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08
March 2023
, by
Ben Lattimore

Working with Vicky Hughes

Working with Vicky Hughes

What was your inspiration for creating this illustration for International Women’s Day?

I wanted to create a scene of empowered, creative women. I thought it would be lovely to capture the feeling of building something, and moving forward together. The scene is full of women collaborating, and making a lot of mess and noise! We also wanted to incorporate the Lattimore + Friends plus sign, which inspired me to draw a group of women ‘adding’ to each other’s lives and creativity.


What was your process for creating this illustration? Can you describe the steps you took?

I work digitally on my iPad, because I hate sitting at a desk all day! I worked on this on a train, on my sofa, at my coworking studio, and in my home office. My process is usually pretty much the same for all my illustrations:

First, I write down all the words I can think of to do with the brief. Some examples I wrote for this International Women’s Day brief are: “inclusive”, “change”, “growth”, “forwards”. I then think of individual visual metaphors and sketch those, in this case, things like ladders, builders hats, laptops, art materials, friends, or walking.

I then sketch a few thumbnails and work out what the overall composition could look like. I knew I wanted a layered, noisy, crowd feel. After getting a sketch approved by the lovely L+F team, I spent a few days adding colour, texture, and adjusting the illustration for different sizes.


Did you have any blocks/challenges to overcome?

Only getting over my self-consciousness and drawing on a train! I had a few long journeys to make on busy trains while working on this. I had to channel my illustrated character’s bold energy and not care if people were peeking over my shoulder!


What would you say is your favourite thing to illustrate?

I love drawing people doing the things they love; characters with joie de vivre, on adventures or being creative.


Where do you get inspiration for your work? What are some of your key references?

I often get ideas when I’m doing something else such as a long drive, or watching a gig. The energy and lyrics of punk/hardcore/rock music really inspires me. I’ve also got a library of books at home that I flip through for inspiration such as Pictoplasma, Nobrow, and old kids puzzle books (I love the Usborne ones!). The Dover reference books are also great visual inspiration.


What challenges did you have to face as a woman working in illustration and design?

I find it really frustrating that most illustrators are women, but most of the famous ones are men! I also think imposter syndrome is way more common with women, but it affects me less as I get more experienced, thankfully. I’m also getting married soon and planning to have children, and I’m not sure how I will be able to juggle that with a freelance career. That’s why I really appreciate things like International Women’s Day - it gets these conversations started and I can learn from other women who’ve been there before.

The Work

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