SOPHIE RAWLINGSON

Cluster Exhibitor | Cluster Illustration | Alternative Fair 2021

Sophie is an illustrator and artist currently based in London UK. She studied Graphic Design at the University of the Arts London and graduated in 2017.

She predominantly works with vector illustration, but also uses embroidery, wooden sculpture, and paint. Her work takes things from the natural world and combines them on the page with man-made objects. She’s inspired by folk and music and feeling the breeze in her hair. She’s passionate about finding magic in the mundane moments of everyday life. There’s a multitude of things happening at any one time, and they mostly go unnoticed and unseen. Her work tries to capture some of those missed things.

She is represented by Bleur gallery and CLUSTER illustration and sells commercially illustrated products online. Her past clients include Teen Vogue, Bleur, The Hoxton hotel and more. She’s been featured by It’s Nice That, BRICKS, De Standaard newspaper, and interviewed by DAZED and Material Magazine.

Sophie’s work is familiar in that she draws commonly found objects that she’s surrounded by. Whether it’s natural things, like mushrooms and flowers, or man-made trinkets, like sunglasses and jewels, she hops from one to the other as they vie for her attention. She’s drawn towards diamond rings as much as she is to seeing the sparkle on dew-soaked grass.

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Her work uses straightforward narratives - the story she’s telling is exactly the one you think it is from first glance, and for that reason, it feels youthful and innocent. She sometimes brings to life the things she draws, giving them human-like characteristics. When this happens, she’s referencing the magic found in mythical stories, as they too try to magnify the everyday.

Her style is recognisable in its use of bright block colours, each bordered by wobbling black lines that move in soft strokes with rounded corners. The idea of colouring within the lines gives the impression of organised fun, again, a youthful touch. She uses a cyclical colour palette inspired by the seasons.

The illustrations on the page rarely touch another, and they each sit without environmental context or relationship to the page it’s on, floating. Her work doesn’t use depth nor plays with light and shadow. She feels like a collector or a magpie, putting all her favourite things on the page. She plays with symmetry by balancing out those repeated objects, but by also creating patterns. She’ll loop the image as a whole, over and again, adding to her collection.

Sophie predominantly works with digital vector illustration and giclée printing. When she's not using a screen, she also makes hand-sewn textiles pieces and painted work.