Chris Askham

I am a practising freelance illustrator based in Nottingham, having graduated from Wolverhampton University with a degree in Illustration. At the completion of my degree course I found that I was unhappy with the style I had become comfortable working with, and so began learning new ways of conveying my ideas. It has taken me a while to find a style that I feel happy with and I feel that my work is constantly evolving.

In the last couple of years I have produced work for East Ayrshire County Council, Brylcreem, Samsung and the Springboard organisation at Cambridge University.

This is the first time since my degree show that I have exhibited my work, although I did have some comic strip work included in the Cult Fiction exhibition at Nottingham Castle in 2007.

My work focuses mainly on stylized figure drawing. I enjoy working with crisp clean lines, and playing around with line-weight and solid blocks of black and white. I also use my computer to get the effects that I want, although in this case all my pieces are hand drawn in pen and ink. I spend many hours working with different compositions, which I find very interesting, taking an idea from one stage to the next.

I always begin my images with a black and white line drawing, usually with some rough ideas for colour in my head. I use Indian ink, dip pens, a variety of brushes and pens, and just about anything laying to hand that can produce a good line. Generally, once I have my ideas and some rough drawings, I scan them into my computer and begin to manipulate things in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I usually play around for some while trying out different compositions and colours until I have some good solid ideas, and at that point I begin to redraw things to a more finished level. Although computers play quite a large part in my work I try to keep a lot of hand-made elements to my work, scanning in ink splatters and scribbled textures in some cases.

I find inspiration in the work of many contemporary fashion illustrators such as Jason Brooks and Graham Rounthwaite, as well as more traditional illustrators like Aubrey Beardsley.


Website: www.chris-askham.co.uk

Email: c.askham@ ntlworld.com