WIA2021: New Talent Exploration Category Longlist Highlights

This is personal project is a painting of a cemetery near the artist’s home; it’s a place they love, and enjoy seeing the changes of the seasons. It’s painted in gouache.

Jihye Seo is currently studying MA Children’s Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin (Cambridge),

This work was created in response to Imtiaz Dharker’s love poem ‘The Trick’ and has become a portfolio piece. It was created through layers of blended watercolour, finished with gouache, coloured pencil, graphite and oil pastel.

Morgan Grice is a freelance illustrator based in the West Midlands. She graduated with First-Class Honours in Illustration from Birmingham City University in 2020 and now works on the illustration course part-time as a mentor in residence.

Lena’s series of illustration explore how translation may be performed visually, in a way that goes beyond what words can express. The work is inspired by a Japanese concept ‘Ma’ 間, which loosely means ‘pause’ or ‘in-betweenness’.

Lena Yokoyama is a Japanese/Austrian illustrator and printmaker based in London, and a recent graduate of BA Illustration from Camberwell College of Arts.

This series of digital illustrations captures the mundane, everyday life of lockdown, in real way, showing the overflowing bins, dirty dishes, messy tables that make the illustrations feel relatable.

Chloe Butler is a final year Illustration and Visual Communication student at University of Westminster.

These works explore what it’s like living in the UK from the perspective of someone who comes from South Korea. These illustrations are created using various media including watercolour, acrylic and coloured pencil, working from observation and memory.

Jahyun Kim was born in South Korea. She is currently studying Illustration and Animation at Kingston University.

This series of illustrations visualises a spiritual journey seeking identity and inner peace. Created using mixed media and digital collage to create dreamlike images with balanced white space.

China-based artist Lu Xu is a recent MA Illustration from Camberwell College of Arts.

This series of still lifes were created during Lockdown is by an artist duo, who each contribute to the illustrations using analogue and digital techniques. These pieces show everyday life during a time when the world seemed to stand still.

Luisa and Eva are illustrators and friends. They live in Hamburg and Berlin and often collaborate. They have found a way over distance to work together on the same illustration with different techniques.

This digital piece was made for a final university project. Because of lockdown, the original idea had to adapted. The final work is about finding adventure and inspiration while being stuck indoors, with the message that imagination has no limits.

 Charlotte Leadley is an illustrator based in Plymouth, and a recent graduate of Plymouth College of Art.

This exploratory piece was created in coloured pencil. It’s a diptych, with one part themed on consumption, the other, contemplation. The image is designed to make us think about how excessive desire can lead to destruction.

Mellow Meadow is an independent illustration artist travelling between Shanghai and New York, currently a student at School of Visual Arts.

This series of GIFs was made for the Bezalel Academy of Arts Instagram platform. It features nine illustrated gifs that work together in harmony but can standalone as well. The theme is a mystical dream, with elements inspired by psychedelia, tarot and surrealism.

 Valentina Calzolari, aka Valuca, is currently a student at the Bezalel Academy of Arts in Israel studying illustration and animation.