The London Illustration Fair 2023

24 - 26 November

Bargehouse | Oxo Tower Wharf | Southbank

Fri 12 - 6 |  Sat 12 - 8 |  Sun 12 -6


The London Illustration Fair is 10 years old this year.

What a wild ride it has been.

To celebrate we are bringing you our best line-up of illustrators, workshops, and interactive installations to date to help us fill our five floors.

This November London’s biggest artist-led illustration event will be returning to London’s iconic Bargehouse, OXO Tower Wharf, Southbank, with another jam-packed festival of illustration. Come help us celebrate with over four floors of prints, products, workshops, and festivities.

The London Illustration Fair is an annual artist-led illustration, print, and graphic design fair, bringing artists and buyers together in a unique environment. The fair offers the chance for illustration lovers to come face to face with their favorite artists and discover amazing new artwork from emerging illustrators. There is something for every pocket from the budding art collector, to the alternative Christmas shopper.

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The London Illustration Print Shop

We are reaching back into our ten-year archive to invite a number of our favorite Featured Artists and exhibitors to contribute an exclusive artwork to our London Illustration Print Shop. These prints will be on sale from the Print Shop at the fair and Past featured artists have included Jean Jullien, Morag Myerscough, David Shillinglaw and Kristjana S Williams to name a few. We look forward to updating you of this line-up as we get closer to the fair.

The past 10 years have seen over 500 artists sell their works at the fair. Alongside the exclusive artworks from our Featured Artists, we are asking a number of past exhibitors and guest illustrators to help stock our Shop during the event. Many of these artworks will go on to be stocked on our Online Print Shop.

View our online Print shop


Love, affection & Acceptance

An interactive and engaging exhibition by our Featured and Guest artists

Alongside our 60+ exhibiting artists, we have invited a selection of leading illustrators and designers to help us put on a show for you at LIF2023. Our invited artists will be exploring the themes of love, affection and acceptance in their work. These will culminate in a series of interactive installations, panel discussions and workshops around the venue.

Leading the charge is renowned designer Annie Frost Nicholson. Annie is our Featured Artist for LIF2023 and will be creating an interactive installation for our entrance space. Joining her on the love train will be Guest Artists Hayley Wall and Rhoda Villeages who are both creating interactive works using Augmented Reality to bring their illustrations to life.

Featured Artist

Annie Frost Nicholson - love language

INteractive Mural

Annie Frost Nicholson (formerly The Fandangoe Kid) is a London-based multidisciplinary artist whose work seeks to smash taboos around the nuanced complexities of the human condition. Through a curious, colourful and considered lens, Frost Nicholson’s practice looks at what it means to be alive, and her preoccupation with life, death, grief and all their permeations follows her own devastating loss of family members twelve years ago, at the age of twenty-seven.

The London Illustration Fair will be working closely with Annie to create a new installation work for the fair that will explore how we express our Love Language. Annie is asking you to express your own Love Language through words and dance with this uniquely interactive artwork.

Love Languages dedicates itself to our collective expression of care and the myriad ways we show affection. We communicate love so differently from one another, sometimes with such diversity that we may as well be speaking another language, the structure varies, the tone is unexpected. Love Languages is a way to unite these narratives and help us to understand one another better, to delight in each other’s difference and celebrate our breadth of expression.
— Annie

Guest artists

‘Who We Really A.R.’ explores the real-life world of PDA (public displays of affection), the perception of what relationships look like, and highlights the role of the observer. Ultimately, it hopes to illustrate the joy and fun of love across a range of LGBTQ+, interracial, extramarital, cultural, and religious dialogues.
— Voxie

Voxie - Who We Really A.R.

Emerging artist Voxie will be bringing her augmented reality exhibition ‘Who We Really A.R'.’ to this year’s Fair. Watch on as her illustrations come to life with vivid colour before your eyes using phone-based A.R. technology.

Voxie is a British Filipina illustrator & animator born in South London. She identifies as queer (she/they) and is obsessed with art and digital technology. Her visuals are inspired by a fusion of comics, manga, vintage graphics and 80s cartoons.


Hayley Wall - A.R. Love Exhibition

Hayley Wall is an artist and illustrator based in South East London, UK. Hayley’s work highlights the struggles and joys of queer and disabled people as their bodies move through the world. Hayley has a keen eye for social justice and their work challenges and reframes dominant perspectives around disability, mental health, queerness, and gender, while simultaneously celebrating the resilience and vitality of oft-marginalized identities. Hayley’s illustrations are thought-provoking and aim to boldly challenge conventional and rigid notions, inviting viewers to embrace a more inclusive and empathetic worldview.

She will be exploring the theme of love through her artwork by creating digital sculptures that will flower and come to life within the fair's project space..


SPONSORS

Millie Yarwood + Beavertown Brewery

Millie is a recent graduate from Nottingham Trent BA Illustration who caught our eye this summer when we joined New Designers to judge the award for best Illustration course. Her 3D characters were so fun and we see a bright future for here within the illustration world.

We have partnered with Beavertown Brewery to commission Millie to redesign our bar for The London Illustration Fair 2023 with a mural and a number of lifesize, 3D characters to join visitors in the Bar. We can’t wait to have a drink with them!

Hi I’m Millie. I’m an illustrator and muralist from Birmingham. My work is often inspired by disco music which translates into my use of bold colours and playful long-limbed characters. Frequently my images represent community and togetherness, but most importantly I like them to be fun!
— Millie Yarwood

PRINT.WORK

We're an environmentally conscious printing company based in Leeds with customers all over the country. Since we started out, we've earned an outstanding reputation for delivering impeccable printing and top-notch customer care.

PRINT.WORK are working alongside Annie to help product the printed material for her interactive installation where you will be able to post your letters to Annie.


open press project

In 2018, the Open Press Project published the plans for a 3D printed printing press for anyone to download for free. Now the Project has gone global with 60.000 downloads, 5.000 fully assembled presses sold, over 700 artists participating in 2 worldwide print exchanges, and a vibrant online community of printmakers.

Open Press Project will be joining the Fair to help us print some small artwork within our Print Shop. Come get involved and take away your own miniature artwork.


JUDGES

Lisa Hassel - Inky Goodness

Lisa Hassell is a creative consultant, coach and founder of Inkygoodness, a global community focused on connecting, inspiring and developing artists and creative businesses. Launching in 2010 as a side project, Inkygoodness now has a global audience of 100k, made up of illustration and graphic design students, creative graduates, artists, freelance illustrators and young professionals.

Rachel Hill - AOI

@theaoi

Rachel Hill is the CEO of the Association of Illustrators, a professional body that offers 1-1 advice, resources, campaigning and events to freelance illustrators. The AOI also deliver the annual World Illustration Awards, celebrating the innovative work of illustrators around the globe. Having previously worked as an Illustration Agent, specialising in Children’s publishing, Rachel is passionate about championing illustrators at all stages of their careers and helping them succeed in the industry.

Markroy Smith - People of Print

@peopleofprint


Marcroy is the Director of People of Print, which was originally created as a directory of illustrators, designers and printers both creatively and commercially, with the purpose of educating and inspiring. PoP sees itself as a unique creative community who enjoy working with brands, companies and educational institutions to execute fresh and impressive campaigns, create media partnerships and put on events.

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