We are thrilled that Melvyn Evans’ fantastic artwork ‘Thames People and Tides’ won the silver award in The London Transport SERCO prize for Illustration competition. From hundreds of entries, Melvyn’s artwork was awarded the silver prize.

The theme of this year’s competition was the River Thames, entries had to feature the river as a central feature of London and London life.  The brief was to create an artwork that was colourful and positively portrayed the river as an exciting and varied place for Londoners and visitors alike, which Melvyn’s artwork did wonderfully.  Melvyn’s illustration will be used across Transport For London’s upcoming advertising campaigns.

The 50 shortlisted images will make up a month long exhibition, running from the 10^th of May until the 3^rd of June at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. The SERCO Illustration Prize is in partnership with the Association of Illustrators and the London Transport Museum.

After graduating from her sell out show at Central St Martins in 1995, Nila Aye firmly established her position in the London illustration scene. Nila’s chic, yet cute illustration style is easily identifiable by her allusions to the design of the 1950′s and has been widely commissioned in both adult and children’s markets for numerous advertising, publishing and design projects. Nila’s client list includes Target Stores, McDonalds, British Airways, BBDO energy, Tesco, Thomas Cook, Sony, Walkers, All State Insurance, Marks and Spencers, Hellmans, Sainsbury’s, Hodder Books, Random House, New Holland, Simon and Schuster, British Vogue, Good Housekeeping, You Magazine, Tatler, Time Out, and Junior Magazine.

Below is Nila’s new illustration, simply what ‘Nila Loves…’

To find out more about Nila’s creative process, we asked the following questions…

Where did you study? 
Central Saint Martins, London. When I first left college in 1995 I was contacted by New Division and asked to come in with my portfolio. I was a bit nervous back then to go straight into big commercial projects with not much practical experience so it was great to have an agent to hold my hand and I quickly learnt what was expected of me.

What inspires you? 
I was definitely born in the wrong era. I am obsessed with mid-century modern advertising, drawing and packaging. The colours, the type, the print processes. I recently bought myself a letterpress machine just so I could go back to basics. That was a lot of fun and so different to sitting on a computer where everything is so neat and tidy. Unfortunately after I bought it, I haven’t had much time to play around on it but maybe one day…

What’s your working process? 
I like to work closely with clients and understand what it is they really want. It’s so important to me that the client is happy and of course that I still keep my artistic integrity too. Usually the client has a fixed idea of what it is they want from me so I then just translate that into my style, other times I have a bit more creative freedom but I often find that my first idea is usually the strongest and that’s the one most people will run with. 
The first stage is usually the hardest for me as it involves drawing it out and making the illustration work as a whole compositionally speaking. I work in vectors and Adobe Illustrator, playing around with spaces and objects and colours. Once the initial draft stage has been passed, I can start the really fun part of adding all the little details. I can even leave it there, if the client wants the illustration to be in vectors or I can work on it further in Photoshop to get more texture into my work.

How would you describe your work? 
I would describe my work as retro modern with a cute twist. Stylish and sweet at the same time.

What’s your dream project? 
I would love to be the modern day Mary Blair of my time. When I was a child my dream was to work as a cartoonist for Walt Disney. I had a giant illustrated book of all the main Disney stories and I used to just pour over this book for years. Then after I left college and saw Toy Story for the first time I was completely blown away with the animation and the attention to detail. It was so unique and made me so excited. My ideal job then was to work for Pixar. Funny that Pixar is now owned by Disney so maybe one day both my dreams could come true at once.

Melvyn Evans was instantly popular when he joined the agency in 1992. His bold graphic style has perpetually evolved over the years, but his work has kept the same vibrant, quirky feel that is inherently Melvyn, making his work as popular as ever today with advertising, design and publishing clients. Melvyn’s clients include Marks and Spencer, Sainsburys, Waitrose, Network Southeast Trains, Tango, Halifax Building Society, Vodafone, The Body Shop, Channel 4, Bloomsbury, Ebury Book, Duncan Baird, The Independent and The Guardian.

We are thrilled to welcome Gary Newman to the agency. Gary finds inspiration from a wide range of influences, including graphic design, advertising, and architecture. His lifestyle inspired, contemporary graphic illustrations have helped him build a wide international client base over the past 10 years. Gary’s client list includes Mattel, Gillette, L’Oreal, Disney, BBC, Kelloggs, Debenhams, Sony, and Virgin.

Brighton based illustrator Emma Brownjohn joined New Division in 2002 after studying at the Camberwell College of Arts. Emma’s beautiful work has a wide ranging appeal and has been commissioned for advertising campaigns, book covers and editorial projects across the globe. Emma’s client list includes, Coca Cola, Mothercare, Veet, Nectar Card, Boots, Waitrose, Harrods, The Independent, Time Out Magazine, Ideal Home, Penguin Books, Scholastic and The Ivy Press.

After studying Fine Art in Edinburgh and St Martins Gavin Reece established himself as one of London’s leading fashion illustrators. Gavin has worked for clients worldwide including Mercedes, Budweiser, Virgin Atlantic, Martini, Lux, Aquafresh, Tatler, The Sunday Times Style Magazine, Marie Claire and Elle magazines.

Anna burst onto the London illustration scene after graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2000. Since then, Anna’s bold use of colour and stylised graphics have had a wide appeal, resulting in Anna developing a diverse client base, working across advertising, publishing, editorial and design. Projects have included set designs for Channel Four, window displays and parenting guides for Mothercare, national press campaigns for Tesco and various projects for the Terrence Higgins Trust, Penguin Books, Dorling Kindersley, The COI, The Guardian and The Art Group, to mention just a few!