Looking Back: Recent AOI Meet Ups
A summary of what our Meet up groups have been up to in Brighton, Kent, Norwich, York and Leeds
Our last AOI Meet up of the year will be happening this Friday 20th December in Cardiff, concluding a fantastic and especially festive season of community events!
Prior to this week, 16 Meet ups took place in all corners of the UK (and beyond) since our last write up at the end of October. Despite the windy and dark evenings, illustrators gathered together to discuss how to thrive as an Illustrator in Bristol, take part in a fun Monster Mashup in Preston, chat and print at a mischievous Drink & Draw in Newcastle, have a creative Christmas breakfast in Glasgow, and set up the FIRST international meet up in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Before we bid farewell to 2024, let’s take a look at recent illustration happening across five locations in the UK.
Autumn Social in Brighton
On the 24th of October Flock held a social meet up in Brighton. The event was fully booked and held at the West Hill Tavern, with illustrators of all different disciplines and career stages joining for the evening.
It was great to have such a brilliant turnout on a dark and dreary October night. Events like these really show that there is a strong creative community down here in Brighton and it encourages us to keep putting on these events. We had lots of lovely conversations with people that were at all sorts of stages and it was great to have a mix and mingle and really get to know everyone that came down.
Tim Alexander, Brighton AOI Meet up Co-Host.
Since then, Flock also held a night of Drawing and Idea Generation on the 6th December, delivering an intimate yet dynamic workshop for all attending illustrators.
We can’t wait to see what Flock have in store for 2025! If you are based in or around Brighton, make sure to follow them directly for updates as well as local creative inspiration.
Halloween drawing in Kent
Kent Illustrators had an especially spooky meet up for Halloween, inviting local illustrators to a themed Drink & Draw.
As a fun drawing prompt, we created two categories of words: “objects” and “animals/creatures.” The idea was to pick one word from each category and do an illustration mashup of the two! This was inspired by a scene in the Harry Potter films
Mathilde Heu, Kent AOI Meet up Host.
Not only this, a raffle was held to win a print kindly donated by local illustrator Alex Foster. The lucky winner (pictured above) was illustrator and character designer Meg Howard.
If you are based in Kent, we hope you can come to the next local meet up. Follow the group directly for updates.
Drawing outing in Norwich
On November 9th Crisscross (the Norwich illustrators group) gathered sketchbooks in hand at the Sainsbury Centre Museum, to explore and draw.
Each participant got a name tag to easily recognise each other as they got to wonder around individually through multiple exhibitions, some of them including ancient artefacts and a brand new exhibition on Ayahuasca & Art of the Amazon.
During the first part of the meet-up, participants spent 2 hours drawing in their sketchbooks. For the second part of the meet up they all gathered at the Modern Life cafe, proceeding to share and go through each others sketchbooks, talking about the exhibitions they had explored, comparing their favourite drawing materials and talking about their current projects, struggles and goals.
Small groups formed quietly when illustrators were drawn to the same art pieces, which facilitated socialising early on. It was a great day, with a lovely group of people who created a very warm and supporting atmosphere.
Julia Tray, Norwich AOI Meet Up Host.
If you’re based in Norwich and don’t wish to miss out on the next local event, you know what to do – follow Crisscross here!
Drink & Draw(vik) in York
Drawvik hosted their last Drink & Draw of the year in the heart of York, in The Exhibition pub’s lovely, festive, cosy conservatory.
The agenda involved an evening of sketchbook speed dating. For the first hour, participants exchanged sketchbooks with table partners in 5 minute intervals, changing seats every 10 minutes. Almost everyone got to speak to each other. Budding illustrators chatted with studio professionals, folks with upcoming books spoke with recently published illustrators.
For the second hour, folks had the chance to delve a bit deeper, catch up and unwind. Some had arrived after a busy day hosting a market stall, came to take a quick break from facing an imminent deadline or came purely to meet some new friends.
The format was tight, but everyone had a laugh and got to peek into each other’s process whilst talking about their practice. It was relaxed, friendly and full of giggles.
Ollie Dean, York AOI Meet Up co-Host.
It was also the first night of mulled wine on the menu at The Exhibition, but we were too busy chatting. Maybe next time!
York is one of our brand new AOI Meet Up groups this year, and what the community they’ve amassed in 2024 is nothing short but amazing. If you are in the area, you can follow their 2025 activities here.
Festive fun in Leeds
We had to finish this summary with a festive one! The most recent BREW event had a great time crafting at their Christmassy Meet up in Water Lane Boathouse, Leeds.
We had a lovely warm festive setting with a huge Christmas tree and seasonal tunes playing in the background. Everyone got busy cutting and drawing and sticking their own gingerbread houses made from cardboard. We had a wonderful little town by the end with even a couple of gingerbread people.
Ekatherina Sheath, Leeds AOI Meet Up co-Host.
Kat and Vicky from BREW would like to extend their thanks to the Leeds community for a lovely evening and year. Follow them online for more crafty fun!
We hope to see you at an upcoming AOI Meet up in 2025! Check if there’s one in your area here.
See all upcoming AOI Meet ups
Learn about our Meet up Hosts
Feeling like 2025 is the year to set up a new meet up group for illustrators in your area? Get in touch!
Brighton AOI Meet ups: Follow Flock
Kent AOI Meet ups: Follow Kent Illustrators
Norwich AOI Meet ups: Follow Crisscross
York AOI Meet ups: Follow Drawvik
Leeds AOI Meet ups: Follow BREW
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