Good Housekeeping Collection

These are some of my Good Housekeeping portraits done between 2001 and 2003. They were all used to accompany articles written by influential women; including the actress Helen Mirren, politician Mo Mowlam and Radio 4's Jenny Murray. They were all painted fairly big on wood...

#HomoPromo

Here's my poster for the #HomoPromo campaign by Albion London, in support of Stonewall and to encourage protest against Russia’s homosexuality legislation...

Ten#2

Here's another (and better I think) version of 'Ten'; the portrait of my daughter to celebrate her tenth birthday. The drawings have been reworked giving the end result a better balance.

Sketching Party

Running a sketching party for some budding young artists last weekend was great fun! After showing them a few pieces of my work, we talked about what Illustration was and how it can be used.

We started off doing some fun drawing exercises; really quick drawings as I didn't want them to think too hard about 'getting it right'. Four 9 year olds and two 5 year olds took part, they were very keen which helped. After drawing without taking the pencil of the paper, and then drawing the person infront of them without looking at the paper, (some interesting results!) they were ready for paint...

We started mixing with gouache paints; the colours to use to get flesh tones, and which colours to mix to get a colour near to black (without using a tube of black). They chose a photo and started to work on a portrait.

After drawing and painting for 2.5 hours, we were all quite tired! I'm hoping they gained some confidence in drawing and feel a little inspired.

Ramsgate Rooftop Prints

For sale very soon are these limited edition prints of my painting 'Ramsgate Rooftops'. Printed on A3 Hahnemuhle German Etching 310gsm paper, this is the first time I've had prints done of my work!

Scarf Lady

Found this sketch in my 'drawing chest'...

Sketchbooks

 

I have created a 'Sketchbooks' album on my Facebook pages: Vanessa Dell Illustration and Vanessa Dell,  here are a few of the drawings included and I hope to add to this collection regularly. It'd be lovely to work on some drawing based commissions!

100 Illustrators - My Spreads

I'm delighted to see these three spreads in one of Taschen's latest publications '100 Illustrators'. Showing some of my older work alongside some new, the book which is in two volumes shows off illustrators such as Alice Wellinger, Olaf Hajek, Brian Cronin and Anita Kunz. As you can imagine I'm thrilled to be included and among this very fine company.

Taschen say of the book "Culled from our Illustration Now! series is this selection of today’s most successful and important illustrators from around the globe. In his introduction, Steven Heller fleshes out the challenging process of narrowing down a field of 600 illustrators to a selection of the 100 most significant. The final cut, including artists such as Istvan Banyai, Gary Baseman, Seymour Chwast, Paul Davis, Brad Holland, Mirko Ilić, Anita Kunz, and Christoph Niemann, provides a snapshot of the highly dynamic and diverse world of contemporary illustration."

Ten

A gift for my eldest daughter to celebrate her first decade, long may the power of her imagination continue!

Rafe Esquith

I was asked to paint Rafe Esquith (teacher and writer in the US) for his new column in Scholastic Instructor Magazine.

100 Illustrators

Looking forward to (and seeing my work in) the publication of 100 Best; out in December...

Lipstick of London

Excited to be represented by the new boutique agency Lipstick of London launched by the lovely and very experienced Marie-Claire Westover!

Muse

My portrait of one of the best bands in the world; Dominic Howard, Matt Bellamy and Chris Wolstenholme of Muse.

Muse... Work in Progress

I was hoping to have finished this piece by now - at least before I saw them live tomorrow night at the Emirates Stadium! So.... this is 'work in progress' of Muse, 2 done ,one to go...

Smithsonian Magazine

My portraits for the contributors page of Smithsonian Magazine can be seen in the December 2012 issue.

Marie Antoinette

Commissioned by a design agency in Edinburgh for a pitch to re brand a big online company (whom I can't mention), this is my version of Marie Antoinette.

Stable Cottage

Stable Cottage is a drawing done for use on business cards/compliment slips, a local commission.

Me by Donya and Donya by Me

Donya Todd by Vanessa Dell, and Vanessa Dell by Donya Todd, a portrait swap to raise money for Autism. A project put together by Hellohead.

Donya Todd for Hellohead

Great to finally air this recent portrait done of illustrator Donya Todd for Hellohead. Can't wait to see Donya's of me!

Oasis: The Way They Were

For sentimental reasons I'm posting my first ever commission. Just out of Uni and a call from Warren Beeby at 'Time Out' back in 1995 produced this portrait of Oasis, at a time when some would say they were at their prime. And then the illustration was bought by illustrator Peter Till, which was icing on the cake!

Meow

Luna and Hesper...for a friend. Cats who mean business.

Jeanne Moreau

 Here's one I quite like of the French actress Jeanne Moreau.

Sport and School Posters

Understanding a child's potential and introducing your daughter to a sport; the idea behind these 2  posters commissioned by the Department of Integration in Switzerland. Thankyou Lily, Olivia, and Emily.

Swiss Doctor

Just completed the final 3 posters for Hasenfeld and the campaign for Swiss Integration. This one is the Doctor, which I believe is on e boards and digital ads right now in Zurich.

Illustration Now! Portraits

 

Here are my 3 spreads in the recently published Illustration Now! Portraits by Taschen.  Works selected are from a variety of commissions from magazines in the USA, Germany and Switzerland.

on the ispot

At last, I have finally gotten round to giving the ispot a go. My stuff.

On The Street

These posters are bigger than me.

Pre-School Integration Poster

Two girls sharing an apple for the Zurich Integration Campaign.

New Integration Posters

This lady is the professional yet slightly insincere character Hasenfeld were after for the Zurich Integration Campaign.

Integration Posters Hang in Zurich

Nice to hear that the posters I completed last year, and the 4 new ones completed recently  for the Department of Integration Zurich are now hanging in the city again. If only I could read German and understand what this is about 20min.ch !

Annemarie Schwarzenbach

Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Swiss writer, journalist, photographer, traveller and rebel.  This one isn't on my website but was originally done for Annabelle Magazine along with a batch of other influential people from the 20th century.

Mark Zuckerberg

Done as a pitch for the front cover of the soon to be published "Illustration Now! Portraits".

Dad

Dad's first time on the web. We miss you.

Some People Say I Have a Big Nose