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Drink and Draw

7/27/2022

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Pub Signs

​Tuesday 26 July the Circus of illustration had a night of drinking and drawing at The Park Pub in Bedford. The theme was pub signs.

Throughout the month, leading up to this D&D, we looked for design inspiration. We discovered an artist from Oxfordshire called Michael Farrer-Bell via a British Pathè film from the 1950s. We watched contemporary artist, Dave Young at work. He runs a workshop for Wadworth Brewery. We also looked at a recent Green King advertising campaign. Designer, Dave Newbold, used the pub sign aesthetic in the poster campaign to encourage Londoners to go back to the boozer after the pandemic.
We also had a lot of fun looking at our local pub signs in Bedford and doing little quizzes on social media.
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At drink and draw we used a random pub name generator created by Marisa. We threw a 20 sided dice twice and drew results. Thanks for letting us use your dice Katie! 


Here are our creations from the night. Don’t you wish these pubs were real? It would make a magical pub crawl! 


Next drink and draw is on Tuesday 30 August 2022. We hope to see you all soon.
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Illustrators Fair Roadtrip

7/18/2022

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Howdy folks, Kristina here, first-time poster on the COI blog, but long time member of the COI committee!
 
Since 2020, there have been so many things we’ve missed out on but one of the things I’ve missed the most has been illustration fairs! I love seeing so many talented people in one room, love seeing all the beautiful and varied styles people work in and love seeing what they’re passionate about show through in their art.
 
As such, I was thrilled to learn that @illustratorsfair were hosting a market in London last Saturday at Granary Square. I arrived at about 1pm and the area around St Pancras was buzzing. It was another glorious day and there were scores of children and their families playing in the fountains outside the impressive Central St Martins building that was hosting the fair.
 
Stepping into the (blissfully) cool interior, I came face to face with 100 stallholders proudly touting their wears. I honestly did not know where to look for all the beautiful art on display! There were children’s picture books, cute cards, stickers galore, fun risograph zines and all kinds of printmaking on offer. I didn’t realise I was going to write a blog about this so forgive my terrible picture, but it looked a bit like this…
Picture
At these events, I’m always on the lookout for a new piece of art to adorn my walls so took time to carefully asses my options. I did a couple of laps, chatted to a few of the stall holders and, because there were so many amazingly talented people there, made a list of all the artists to follow when I got home! (For real, at least 30 artists will be getting a follow in the next week.) I was tempted by some enormous painterly crows, some beautifully illustrated sharks, a t-shirt with a T-rex magician, and buckets full of hilarious button badges but in the end I came home with what I think is a pretty stellar haul…
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To check out more work from the amazing people exhibiting last weekend, please do have a look through the Illustrators Fair Instagram, where all the artists have a highlight on their grid. Supporting independent artists supports our community and helps make someones illustration dream a reality.

So, all this to say, next time you hear there’s an art fair nearby, get yourself down there! I left with a bag full of unique gifts and goodies, feeling great that I’d supporting some super talented artists and inspired to pick up a pencil (or stylus) for myself.

If you know of any great local events coming up, then do share with us on our socials and we'll be happy to help promote.

Until next time folks!

​Kristina 
 

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    Katie, Kristina, Marisa, Raj and Elly from The Circus of Illustration are blogging about illustration events in Bedford, UK

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