Emmy Lupin has illustrated for the likes of Adidas and SEGA, as well as clocking up her fair share of LeftLion doodles over the years with her bright, bold and stylish aesthetic. So when it came to deciding who should illustrate the cover of our fashion issue, the choice was unanimous...
Tell us a bit about yourself…
I’m a freelance illustrator from Nottingham, currently based in London but soon to be heading back to my hometown. I studied advertising and worked in design agencies as an Account Manager for five years, running my business alongside that until it became the beast it is now. I’m lucky enough to have been working full-time as an illustrator for nearly two years. Hurrah! My clients include brands such as Adidas, Three, Stylist and SEGA - and happy to say LeftLion were one of my very first editorial projects way back when.
What was the inspiration behind the cover?
Using the iconic Broad Street as a catwalk, I included some influences from the articles within the magazine and went a bit wild with the rest. Drawing stylish people is one of my favourite things to do, so I imagined I was sitting with a coffee and people-watching - drawing all of the fab outfits as people walked past.
How does it compare with some other projects you’ve worked on?
I loved working on this, with absolute creative freedom and support from the LeftLion team. I love colour and pattern, and it features heavily in my work - so when I asked ‘is this too bright?’ and the answer was an absolute no, I knew we were on to a winner.
What was the biggest challenge that you faced in creating the piece?
Attempting to keep to a colour palette, and not use 10,000 different tones. I wanted the brickwork to be orange and pink, but then also use these colours as accents within the outfits. I needed to make sure the people popped, but so did the background. I think I found the balance eventually.
Tell us about some projects you’ve worked on in the past…
I’ve worked on quite a few nice publishing projects - book covers, and illustrated books. At the moment I’m working on a pretty big project with over seventy portraits of women in politics, so that’s a good one to get my teeth into! One of the stand-out projects was for Three UK in 2020, illustrating around eighty moments from lockdown, which went on to be a 120 foot sculpture. In two weeks. Wild.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
