I am a freelance illustrator, specialising in figurative work – fashion, beauty, and lifestyle illustration as well as portraiture – all a result of my obsession since childhood with drawing faces and figures. My illustration techniques vary; although my ‘default setting’ is watercolour I am happy to experiment with mixed-media, pastels, pencils, collage, stitch, photo-montage, computer manipulation… anything, really. To browse a range of my existing illustration work, please select my portfolio pages by clicking on ‘Fashion Illustration’, ‘Faces & Portraiture’, ‘Textile Portraits’ or ‘Archive / Other’ on the menu.
In recent years my fascination with faces and the variety of ways they can be depicted has led me to produce more and more portraiture work including several ‘textile portraits’ which can be seen in portfolio 3 on this site. These combine the speed and (relative!) immediacy of computerised embroidery with traditional hand-stitching, and the reclaimed fabric ‘canvases’ reflect my concerns with the environment and sustainability in fashion and textiles. These pieces take a long time to produce, so provide an interesting foil to the rapidity – and tight deadlines! – of much of my illustration work.
I am available for fashion / beauty / lifestyle illustration work or portrait commissions, and lecturing work in both fashion illustration and design. If you would like to contact me please don’t hesitate to get in touch – just click: carolryder9@gmail.com
Thank you for your interest!
