Jessica Bird
Jessica Rose Bird is a fashion illustrator originally from Scotland, now based in London. She has illustrated for the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Roksanda, Etautz as well as behind the scenes for shows at LFW, along with many others.
She is honest about her journey to her current position, through studying Fashion Design at university and working within the design industry for a couple of years before deciding to quit and take a break. She went to weekly life drawing classes throughout her time in design as a way to relax, which then started to become something more as friends were showing ever increased interest in her drawings. And so, she started creating and selling prints of the artwork. She describes it as a natural progression towards taking the plunge into illustrating fashion.
Photograph by Kris Atomic for Monica Vinader
Now an established illustrator within the fashion industry, she finds inspiration in the interest and details of collections. She simply interprets the looks into her artwork, being drawn to interesting colour combinations and palettes, any unusual make up looks and quirky accessories mainly. Everyday colours and compositions also inspire Jess, which she shares with her Instagram followers in the form of weekly ‘mood boards’, full of colour but simplicity. What brings the studies to life are her favourite mediums of chalk pastels, charcoal, acrylic paint and coloured paper; all cleverly used and intertwined with one another.
As with every artist, you must have your own influences and inspirations for you work, and so Jess’ is that of works from a number of other artists, designers and just impacting people having been discovered. The chosen few include the likes of Egon Schiele, Joan Eardley, Rob Unett, Jacky Marshall, Roksanda and Chris Gambrell. She also states that Instagram itself is a huge influence with other artists, and competition.
Pink in Prada, available from www.jessrosebird.com
While Jess has worked across different areas of fashion and for numerous design houses, she thinks there is still so much to explore. With working different projects for different clients, the range of work can vary hugely with each day being different from the next. She believes it is all about ‘experiment and play’, which fits her style of artwork, being described as quick, spontaneous and not at all precious. With her experience broadening and working with new clients regularly, Jess’ style is ever changing and evolving while improving and discovering new techniques as she works. The varying change in clients’ briefs keeps Jess excited within her work and so welcomes new projects with open arms, as well as having the hope to work with design houses directly in the future. A campaign comes to mind?
A recent exciting project, and favourite of hers, is that of illustrating live for Vivienne Westwood AW19 back in February. She has described backstage being so full of madness of actors, activists, crowns, clothes, slogans, models, prosthetics and the incredible make up looks by Isamaya Ffrench. All of which, she adds, was incredibly exciting and inspiring. In terms of specific artworks, she has always been quite attached to the original colourful nudes from the life drawing origins of this journey. More recently however, the artwork for E. Tautz is some of her best work to date, find below.
Artwork for E. Tautz
While Jess is continuingly announcing pop-up self-portrait illustration events across London, some of her work is always available to purchase.
Direct for originals, there is a website where she sells Giclee prints:
https://jessicarosebird.com/shop
Some of her original artworks are for sale through SHOWstudio:
https://shop.showstudio.com/collections/artist-jessica-bird
And the most recent work, Print Club London are selling exclusive hand screen prints:
https://printclublondon.com/artist/jessica-rose-bird/
Give Jess a follow on Instagram for her latest artworks @jessrosebird
Child Pose, available at www.jessrosebird.com
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