CWLA Author Wins at Justgiving 2022!
Published on 19/10/2022
Congratulations to CWLA author Phil Heckles for winning Justgiving’s Most Creative Fundraiser Award! Phil’s fundraiser was creative indeed. He made self-confessed ‘rubbish’ drawings of people’s pets, asking only for donations in return. It started with a silly drawing of his own dog shared to social media, and now he has drawn over 11,000 pet portraits for people across the world – even as far as California and Belgium. These ‘rubbish’ drawings helped him raise over £200,000 for homeless charities Turning Tides and Street Vet!
Accepting the award on October 10 at Justgiving’s ‘Most Inspiring Night of the Year’ Phil said “…generosity has driven the fundraising, not my stupid pictures.” This fantastic win isn’t slowing him down either. Phil is still taking commissions to raise more money!
Phil has also turned these drawings into two picture books with CWLA. The first, Rubbish Pet Portraits, is a hilarious collection of his ‘extremely realistic’ drawings, but a fair warning – the book may not be suitable for anyone who actually likes animals or has the ability to see. His second and most recent is Who’s a Clever Boy Then?, which was released in July, and instantly became an Amazon Bestseller!
Other News
ITSme Society and Our Environmental Impact
The ITSme Society was formed around our Positive E.F.E.C.T.S. charter – yes, we know we are missing an F! This charter was created to advance the environmental, financial, ethical, collaborative, training, and social standards of our agencies. Advancing the environmental standards of ITSme and our agencies means a lot to us. All of the ITSme…
Why Birthday Cards are Best for Greeting Card Portfolios
Greeting Card designs by Advocate Art illustrators Jenny Wren, Amy Hodkin, Kathryn Selbert, and Nichola Cowdery. Why Birthday Cards are Best in a GC Folio Teacher: Deborah Millinship, Illustration agent at Advocate Art Limited Creating a strong art licensing collection is essential for captivating clients and boosting sales. But, what are the key designs to…
Advocate Art Gets into Advertising
Everyone is seeing those flat, abstract, colorful characters with oversized, flowing limbs everywhere in advertising today. Two relatable styles are the basis: Corporate Memphis (a postmodern style popular throughout the 1980’s) was revived when Apple changed its visual interface in 2013 (remember when all the apps were super-polished?). And Alegria, (Spanish for ‘Joy’); first developed…
New Kirkus Review for Astound Illustrator Steph Lew!
We are absolutely delighted by the recently published Kirkus Review of Kailei Pew’s “The Monster Above The Bed”, illustrated by Astound US Inc. artist, Steph Lew! The review complimented Lew’s bright illustrations as joyous, creating a fantastical world that seems to defy our understanding of the world as a whole. Take a look at the…
Celebrations to Include in Your Portfolio Part 2
Illustrations by Illo Agency artist Laura Sayers, Advocate Art illustrator Alessandra Vitelli, and Astound US Inc. illustrator Khoa Le Celebrations to Include in Your Portfolio Part 2 Teacher: ITSme Society Who doesn’t love a celebration? As we talked about in part 1 of this series, books that celebrate a special occasion or seasonal event are…
Video: How and Why to Layer in Photoshop
Photoshop is an essential tool for illustrators and designers. Using layers in Photoshop makes editing your design much easier. They allow you to focus on certain parts of your illustration, and make changes without distributing your whole design. Here are the basics of using layers in Photoshop. Keep an eye out for more illustration software…