'FEAST' - They Draw and Cook's NEW feature

It was with great delight I welcomed the news that They Draw and Cook were now accepting ANY foodie related images to their site. Yes for 'Feast' images can be submitted without a recipe!! Some of you may have seen snippets on IG of my work in progress based on food over the last year. I do have entire food themed collections in the Surface design part of my website now.

However with 'Feast' I felt it was a great chance to pull out a elements and arrange them in the TDAC layout to showcase further the range of work I can produce. And I think a lot of designers agree as there has been a wonderful variety of kitchen and foodie art that has been recently uploaded. And of course with the added bonus of TDAC huge social media following its win/win all round. Check it out HERE

It really is so much fun rearranging cakes!! Also I am very very close to completing the They Draw and Cook Challenge I set myself earlier this year, so I can be considered for a TDAC book. Although its taken far longer than I expected, in some ways has been a good thing - I will explain further in my next blog post.

Beer Advocate Magazine....the beginnings of the TDAC effect?

Way back in February I received an email '....I stumbled across your autumn vegetable illustrations online, and they are exactly what I was looking for so I wanted to get in touch...' It was from Beer Advocate magazine and they wanted me to illustrate an editorial about brewing with vegetables. It was a perfect opportunity & I jumped at the chance.

First of all I was so so excited to hear they had found my work via They Draw and Cook. By late autumn of last year it was dawning on me with TDAC huge following on Facebook (over 200,000 likes) and other social media platforms their reach was wide and varied. As long as I kept producing considered illustration, used the best of my abilities, and kept exploring, then TDAC would be a great vehicle for showing my artwork. And it looks like its beginning to pay off...slow and steady as it is with these things.

So here we are...beer and vegetables. The concept for the leading spread was beer bottles growing like vegetables. And spot illustrations of the vegetables mentioned in the article.

Finally I want to end on another positive - I am in the middle of another exciting project where the art director found my illustrations on Pinterest, once again via a They Draw and Cook recipe artwork from last year. A Pinterest inspired blog post coming up soon.

Sneak peak of next Foodie project

We get a local vegetable box delivery every week. Its seasonal so we don't always know what to expect. Sometimes theres a real glut and I'm at a loss what to do with the over abundance of a particular veg. This gave me an idea for a recipe thats a little time consuming bit totally worth it as the kids devour the end result within seconds ...which is a win/win situation since they don't realise they've actually eaten vegetables.

I will reveal all in the coming weeks. The sketches were drawn on the kitchen floor with the kids doing there own versions of carrots and beetroot with my brush pens. And a quick play around in PS just now.