The joys of riverbank strolls, bike rides around town and picnics are some of the pleasant activities captured in illustrator, Hannah Warren’s work. Her work offers up little snapshots of modern life around the city and suburbia. Her love of local exploration comes through, often taking on a cyclist’s perspective and their observations of the people and architecture that make up the places we call home.
Hannah tells us about how she has enjoyed finding out more about London while working on the second of two London-themed books by Tom Jones. We really like the snippets of city life in bright but limited colours. They makes us want to jump on our bikes and explore!
I’m a south London-based illustrator working for a range of clients within the publishing and editorial sectors.
I always start the work I make the same way— with brush pen or pencil on paper.
I don’t think too much about colour at this point as I colour all my images digitally with a drawing tablet after scanning.
I like the freedom of drawing with a pen not a mouse and when you’re working digitally I think it’s important to be able to retain the character of a line. I tend to use a limited colour palette within my illustrations - I think it’s safe to say they are bold, bright and influenced by the graphic aesthetic of mid century illustration. I love the colours of children’s books of this time, how often they clash but always zing. I love to draw bikes the most.
I’ve recently finished illustrating the second book by Tom Jones (no, not that one) titled ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ and will be published this Summer by Virgin. It’s been great to work on the follow on book from Tom, I learnt so much working on ‘Tired of London, Tired of life’ and this experience has been no different.
For example — There’s a petrifying well in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire which turns everything to stone over time— It’s all been great subject matter to draw from!
© Hannah Warren, 2013
