Helen Lang

Training

Helen has a BA in Illustration and became a full time freelance illustrator in 2011 after a long career working in the creative industries. She has previously worked in design studios and as an illustration agent. Learning on the job all the time, she started her own self-initiated lettering project, which catapulted her career into full time illustration.

Approach

Thinking, procrastination, cups of tea and sketching – they’re all part of Helen’s creative process when she starts a new job. A flurry of ideas will build up leading to more frantic artworking, until she’s settled on a concept, which she’ll draw with a steady hand. This will then be fleshed out in a medium that’s right for the brief - gouache, watercolour, fine liners, pen or pencil. The final image is tweaked in Photoshop or Illustrator with the help of a Wacom tablet. Helen is also a keen screen printer, working alongside her guru Phil Sheffield from a vast studio in Suffolk.

Style

Everything Helen does is rendered by hand in the first instance, which lends a warmth and personal quality to her style. Her work is also described as colourful, quirky, fluid and vibrant.