Interview with DENIM ID ILLUSTRATOR LISA HORTON

'After graduating from The University for the Creative Arts in Epsom, with a degree in Fashion Promotion & Illustration, I moved to London and started freelancing in illustration. My work has a strong connection to fashion, as that is one of the things I love the most, so drawing within a fashion context, is just about the most perfect thing to me on the planet!

After leaving uni my style changed dramatically, from being very free with my pencil and ink, to artwork with far more detail. I still use a lot of different kinds of media such as pencil, ink, acrylic, and watercolour. I have also started using other types of media that aren’t so traditional, such as textiles to create different looking textures. I’m a massive fan of the scanner so I would scan in a piece of fabric then layer it over parts of my illustration. It doesn’t have to be a textile, it could be anything from an ink splash to splats of paint, but it’s all layered up in Photoshop. I love to use the different types of media, as it makes me, and my work far more versatile.

I scan each part of my illustration into Photoshop, and mess around with it to create the right composition. I used to hate the computer, and be really against them, but even though my work is all hand drawn my Mac is a fantastic tool to have, I couldn’t live without it! I like to just go for it, when I’ve got an idea I have to get it down on paper, pad, back of my hand, anywhere.

I have worked for some amazing fashion companies Including Ness, John Richmond, Matches and Burberry. The designer brands are my favourite to work for because the clothes are just so beautiful, I’m practically dribbling when I see them in the flesh! I think my favourite job was working for Matches doing the front cover for their Men’s A/W 08 press pack, because they gave me so much freedom, and they wanted me to be me, which was fantastic.

At uni I exhibited my work at graduate fashion week and I have also exhibited with a group of five other artists, collectively called Mike Hunt, showcasing my illustrations. Denim ID for me is another chance for me to show other people with an interest in fashion and denim my work. Using denim in my illustrations is really interesting as it creates a whole new texture within my work.

Going forward I can see my work steadily progressing, and I would like to see my illustrations as t-shirt prints and on a large scale as back drops in shop windows. I really like my style at the moment, and I’m happy with how the look has progressed from my college days!