Louise Lockhart, known as The Printed Peanut, talked to my course today about her journey to becoming a successful illustrator and developing her own unique practice. I was introduced to her work last year on the Access to HE course, during my final major project, when I was illustrating my own children's book. It was a real treat to finally meet Louise and learn about her techniques!
As an illustrator, Louise has created editorial pieces, advertisements, stationary, clothing, homeware, soap packaging, games, and books. As well as this, she has worked on collaborative pieces for the Heal's Cat Design Trail, a pass the parcel game with Donna Wilson, a calendar illustration for Flow magazine and postcards for Beyond Measure.
Louise uses her own unique system of collecting different textures and paper (for example the inside of envelopes, dolls' house wallpapers and packaging), before scanning them into the computer and applying them digitally to her paper cut arrangements. These are then put through a Risograph printer - similar to a photocopier - to add a grainy texture. Her work then evokes timelessness and a vintage aesthetic, with undertones of folk art. Her strongest influence includes Matisse; who worked relentlessly with shape, colour and pattern and ephemera such as textured papers, old food packaging and old toys.
I love Louise's work and admire her dedication and hard work to carve out her social media following and unique practice. From her early days of working in a small gift shop in Canada, screen printing in her bath tub and making very little money, she has persevered to create an instantly recognisable and quirky aesthetic that can be applied in many different ways to prints and products. Her work is very charming, reductive in its use of basic shapes and minimal colours and has a vintage aesthetic due to her use of risograph printing. I am intrigued by her technique and application and would like to experiment with paper cut and the use of risograph in my own work, as someone who focuses on a lot of detail.
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