Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Wishing you all a happy and safe festive season and looking forward to seeing what 2016 will bring! x

Illustration for Levi

I recently did an illustration for my cousin's lovely little boy Levi. The London scene is something a bit different for me, but it was really fun to paint!

Swan Lake Illustrations

Last November I worked with the U.S. Educational publisher Seed Learning to illustrate a picture book version of Swan Lake for early readers. Last week I received an exciting parcel in the post with two copies of the book all the way from Korea! It was a really fun project to work on and made me face my fear of illustrating human characters! 

Here are a couple of spreads from the book...

Cirencester Hare Festival 2015

Meet Patience the hare!

As part of the Cirencester Hare Festival 2015 I was asked to decorate a small hare this year! The hare is one of 50 as part of the Small Hare Passport Trail. The hares can be found all over Cirencester and this little one is located at Cirencester Hospital. There are 6 small hares to see up at the hospital; each one decorated by a different department. I decorated the admininstration team's hare.

Please check out some more photos after the jump...

Happy 2015!

A bit late, but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

I was a very busy bee at the end of 2014 working on a couple of exciting commissions, which I can hopefully share soon. In the meantime, here is a christmas illustration I did for my cousin's baby boy who lives over in New York!

High Five Magazine Cover!

I've got a very exciting delivery in the post this week! Earlier in the year I worked on a fun commission for the US children's magazine High Five and illustrated the front cover of their November issue. The brief involved bears, autumn, knitting and jumpers...some of my favourite things! It was a lovely brief to work on and it's an amazing feeling to think my artwork is all over the US at the moment! My cousin, who lives in New York, went on a hunt for a copy and bought hers in Barnes & Noble New York! Yay! Please let me know if you live in the US and see the magazine...it's out now!

More dogs in jumpers..!

Hey everyone! Just a couple more quick illustrations of some pups sporting some very fetching jumpers. I'm trying to get some new work done at the moment ready for an exhibition I have coming up next month. The show is taking place at the Gardens Gallery in Cheltenham and will have work by me and a few other very talented ladies! I'll post all the details in the next week or so if you are interested.

Dogs In Knitwear

Hello everyone and Happy Sunday! Just a bit of fun with these two illustrations, if you follow me on Twitter you may have already seen a glimpse of them! They were inspired by an old knitting pattern for doggy jumpers my Gran found in a charity shop. There are three more I've still got to paint and I'll post a pic of the knitting pattern with the rest of them because it's so funny! Hope you like them. You can follow me on Twitter here... Lucy_Boden :-)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! Hope you are all having a lovely, relaxing weekend and enjoying your chocolate eggs!

I'm afraid I don't have an Easter illustration to share with you, but instead here is a little character study I've been working on recently. One of my NY resolutions this year was to become more confident with drawing and painting children/people characters and this is my first attempt. I want to move on to doing characters more suited to picture books, but I figure this is a good start!

Please follow the link to take a look at my painting process...

Duck Pond Illustration

I posted a few snippets of this illustration on twitter a few days ago and here is the finished piece! The furry creature on the edge of the pond is a water vole if you are curious!

Something new...!

Good morning! Here's something new that I haven't posted on my blog before. It was a speculative piece I did for a client at the end of last year. Thought I would post the rough and the final image so you can get a small insight into my process!

Guest Artist - We Love To Illustrate!

Happy February everyone!



















This month I'm excited to be the "We Love To Illustrate" blog's guest artist! Thank you so much to all the girls, I'm such a fan of all of their work so it was an honour to contribute to their fantastic blog! This month they have designed some gorgeous FREE downloadable Valentines Day cards. Check the post out by clicking here.

Jungle Illo - Take 2!

I spent a little time last week re-working an illustration for my portfolio (you can see the original if you scroll down a bit!), after some fab advice from Hannah at Plum Pudding. I think it's looking a lot better now, especially Tiger. I think I should write him his own little story.

If you go down to the woods today...

A new sample for my portfolio, the Teddy Bears' Picnic! I've had the Teddy Bears' picnic song stuck in my head for the entire weekend, it's starting to drive me a little crazy so I'm glad I've finished this!






















I'm also using this for this weeks Illustration Friday! This weeks word was 'prepare'. The bears were well-prepared for this years Teddy Bears' picnic, bringing fresh lemonade and a yummy jam sponge cake!

Jungle Illo!

Hello everyone!

Hope you've all had a good weekend! Just a quick post with some new work. I'm trying to get some different pieces painted for my portfolio, next challenge is painting children! Eeek!

November Update!

Hello everyone!

Hope you are all well. I just wanted to thank you all for following my blog even though posts have been a bit sparse recently! I'm still working full time at the moment so I only really have my weekends when I can paint. It does get pretty frustrating, I really wish I could illustrate all day everyday...maybe soon!

I've still been working on a few bits and pieces though, including my picture book which doesn't currently have a title! It's about a surprise party, here is another sample spread...















...and a little detail...
























This picture book idea is one that has developed from a university project. My work has changed quite a bit over the last 2 years, thanks especially to my lovely agent Hannah at PP! Her advice has been invaluable!

Anyway, hopefully there will be less of a gap before I get the next post up! I'm thinking something christmassy! Enjoy the rest of the weekend! :)

A Pirate's Life For Ted!

Just a quickie post to show you this illustration I painted over the weekend. I was feeling really stuck for inspiration for most of Saturday and then had the urge to draw some pirate bears and this is the result! Ted and his friend sailing the high seas, although they aren't the most ferocious looking pirates ever!

A Very Badger Breakfast!

This is an illustration I've been working on for a children's book that's been forming in my head for a while. I'm trying to get my act together and finish up the final roughs for a dummy and a couple of finished colour spreads, which is a lengthy process when you also have a full time job! I am determined to do it though and have been working super hard! I keep meaning to do a step-by-step post of how I create my paintings too, but keep forgetting until I'm halfway through a painting! I will soon though, promise!!
































Let me know what you think! What's everyone else working on at the moment? Hope you have a lovely evening :)

Sunday Sketch - 3

Just a quick sketch to show you this Sunday eve!

Saturday update!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long overdue blog update! I'm still working full time at the moment and squeezing illustration in the evenings and weekends. I'm still working on developing a book idea that I began working on in my 3rd year of uni. It's looking very different now! Here are a couple of snippets for you to look at, let me know what you think! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!