Tom: Can you tell me a little about your background for our readers?

Rachel: I was born and brought up in a town called Leighton Buzzard, in Bedfordshire, U.K., which is about 30 miles north of London. I can’t really say that one particular thing led me to illustration, I knew from a young age I wanted to make and draw things, which is what I spent most of my childhood doing.

Tom: What kind of things inspire you to create and where do you look for them?

Rachel: I get inspired by everything and anything. Often in the middle of the night, annoyingly. The most interesting things to me are when I find the extraordinary in the mundane, the little things in life that make you stop and question the way things are. Words are infinitely inspiring to me; quotes, lyrics, letterforms, signage, and strange spelling mistakes.

My main source of inspiration is the Internet, definitely. I read a lot of magazines and books, both fiction and not, but I just get astounded by the amount of talent and information that’s out there on the Internet. Other people; their work, or even just their work ethic inspires me.

Tom: What is your process like when you are creating something? Your work looks very hands on. Do you start with a complete picture in your head or does it grow more organically/unpredictably?

My process can sometimes vary but generally, when I have an idea for a project or for an illustration, I can usually visualize it in my head straight away, or at least the gist of it. It’s the method and media that is always in flux; I start all of my illustrations off with hand rendered elements of some description, and then build it in Photoshop or illustrator. I’d definitely describe it as hands on, and I always prefer to have something physical at the end of it.

I don’t like working solely in digital form, things feel distant and sterile to me. When it’s on the Mac that’s when the most changes happen to my images and I can go off on tangents or end up with something that’s close to how I envisaged it. Sometimes I prefer it when things grow unpredictably as you can end up with something better than what you’d thought, but I also like to be in control of my work and not let things run away with me. Especially when you’ve got deadlines.

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Behold! Here is one of the submissions we received from readers who, like us, are so obsessed with celebrities that they sometimes draw them. In this case, they love The Notebook. (We think it’s a pretty good representation of the movie, at least the part where you start sobbing uncontrollably).

In case you hadn’t heard, we’re holding a Crushable celebrity art contest and winners get a sweet prizes. More details here.

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Image: used with permission by Newscom

Image: used with permission by Newscom

Weird accessories, hey?!

And the event was hosted by Burberry, so that was probably a gift bag Mischa is seen holding.

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