An introduction
Hello!
I’m so glad you’re here.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name Is Ysabel. I’m an illustrator, surface pattern designer, all around crafty gal and generic northerner. I grew up in Yorkshire but have lived all across the north of England, and have just moved to Edinburgh - this has left me with an accent that is a hodgepodge of the cities I’ve lived in and the people I’ve met along the way!
Image description: Ysabel is wearing jeans, a crochet jumper and white trainers and is sitting cross legged on Nelsons Monument on Carlton Hill in Edinburgh. The photograph was taken on a film camera which had a light leak, leaving an over exposed margin on the left side of the photograph and some interesting pink lines. The sky is blue behind her and there are no clouds in the sky.
As a small child I never wanted to play with toys, I always just wanted to be drawing, painting, or looking at picture books. Drawing was my first love and it is something I’ve come back to again and again, but it took me a long time to realise that I could actually do it for a living.
I’ve had a rich and varied career before illustration. In my 30 years on this planet I’ve been a dance teacher, a freelance makeup artist, a wig maker, a carer, an orthotist in a children’s hospital and i’ve worked in an office - I’ve even got two undergraduate degrees. This whole time my dream career has been so intrinsically linked to my identity that I couldn’t see it! It was a real can’t see the forrest for all the trees situation.
Image Description: Ysabel’s hand is holding the risograph printed booklet of poems she designed for the Landscapes of Change exhibition, peeking out behind it is the exhibition brochure. Her nails are painted green, and a little chipped they match the skirt she is wearing. Her jumper sleeve is visible and is the same colour blue as the illustrations.
If you would have told me five years ago that I would one day be commissioned to create work for an award winning poet and have it exhibited in the Manchester Poetry Library - I’d have probably looked at you like your head was about to drop off, but here we are. Launching my illustration career has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it has also been the best thing I have ever done for myself. There is still a lot I would like to achieve in my career - but I’m proud of what i’ve achieved so far, and I am so excited to see what the future holds!
I’ve decided to start this blog as a way of connecting to people, and also as a way for me to keep track of my own progress - I’ll be talking about my creative process and how I work, as well as reflecting on the realities of being a freelance illustrator here.
Image description: Illustrated abstracted flowers fill the frame, some flowers are blue, others are white and others are red. The illustration is graphic and textured.
If that sounds like something you find appealing, i’d love it if you stuck around. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to ask me/hear me yap on about, let me know! Drop me an email and I can either address it here for you, or email you back about it directly.
Until next time,
Wishing you all the good things,
Ysabel