Illustration Blog — Sarah Tanat-Jones

Jul 13

Jul 13 SPRING/SUMMER 22

Welcome to the second post of my journal, thank you for spending some time here. This is what I’ve been working on in the spring and summer of ‘22.

March: Print for Ukraine

It’s summer 2022, and the world has shifted on its axis. We have war in Europe, and the headlines speak of the suffering of Ukrainians every day. Not really knowing if there was much I could do to help, I nevertheless wanted to do something, so I created a print of three women performing a traditional Mazurochky dance, from the Ukrainian region of Polissa. It’s now for sale in my shop, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal for Ukraine. I’m really interested in Eastern European folk culture and music, so I was excited to be able to dig further into the research of local costume and dance (with help from this blog) to be able to make this image.

My print for Ukraine

April: lIlustrations for the University of Bristol

And now for something completely different. I created a suite of cell and machinery inspired illustrations for the University of Bristol. The BioCompute Lab is responsible for experimenting with the place where human direction meets natural evolvability. I used energetic painterly brushmarks and combined organic and repetitive elements, and bright colour. I looked at DNA codes, cell structures, and Abstract Expressionism to gather the look at feel for these pieces.

Two of the four illustrations I did for Tom Gorochowski’s lab at the University of Bristol

May: Shakespeare for Everyone

Spring saw the publication of a lovely children’s book that I illustrated called Shakespeare for Everyone. With full-page spreads filling the entire book, this project kept me busy during the last months of my pregnancy and it is a real joy to see the printed book in real life. Of course immersing myself in Shakespeare’s world and times was great - the research side of things is one of the best things about being an illustrator. I stuck with modern imagery and characters where possible to represent the diversity of Shakepeare’s modern audience. Big thanks to the publisher, Magic Cat.

Illustrated spreads from Shakespeare for Everyone

June: The Queen’s Jubilee Animation

The Queen, at the venerable age of 96, still packs a punch with her amazingly colourful wardrobe. I’d been meaning to make an animation of this riotous palette for a while - so when her Platinum Jubilee rolled around on 3rd June 2022, it was the perfect chance.

I focussed on a collection of some of her many bright outfits and always with a hat (or headscarf, or diamond tiara) to match. I even threw in a couple of corgis.

We all had a four day weekend and, however you feel about the monarchy, it’s an unmatched achievement and a chance to look back on how much the world has changed in these past seven decades.

July: The National Archives Pride Portraits

Pride month is always a celebratory time and this year it’s the 50th anniversary of the first UK march. I wanted to mark it in a couple of ways. I made an animation (see below) and I also worked on some portraits for the National Archives.

They asked me to draw trailblazing queer figures from history. Some are from recent times, so we know them well, and some are from further back in history, so the way they looked was up to my imagination. This was a wonderful commission, I was so happy to have been asked by the National Archives.

Portraits are becoming one of my favourite things to be asked to do. Getting a good likeness and imbibing the work with the spirit of the subject is work that I find challenging and rewarding. Here are my portraits.

My portraits of Anne Lister, Ian McKellen, Ken Johson, and James Berry

50 years of Pride: Voguing Animation

I like to make stop-frame animations when I have the time, and I enjoy learning more about this technique each time I make one. This 30 second animation celebrates Voguing, a central part of the Ballroom scene. I wanted to mark 50 years since the first UK Pride march with energy and colour, and I hope I captured the moves accurately.

Other Things

I did a talk for the Association of Illustrators about portrait making. Thanks for asking me, AOI.

Mid-talk, surrounded by some of my illustrated portraits

I continue to do my monthly editorial illustrations for Jay Rayner’s column in the Observer Food Monthly, Happy Eater.

July’s Happy Eater illustration for the OFM: Fridge raiding when ill with Covid

Eater: Polari

I was asked to make an editorial illustration for Eater.com about the secret London language, Polari. This was a lovely chance to do some vintage hand lettering. I also used colours found in 30s, 40s and 50s advertisements to get a feel for the interwar period when Polari was in use.