William Grill

This weekend I caught the last day of the AOI Illustration Awards 2014 at Somerset House, London and was introduced to a host of new illustrators. One of which was William Grill whose tiny pencil colour illustrations force you to take a closer look.

Mr Grill’s work on display, much of it from Shackleton’s Journey, was drawn on large sheets of paper but each figure could not be more than an inch high. Small details and primary colours combine to create bustling scenes that you really can’t help but smile at. I kept thinking how often he would have to sharpen his pencils to get those thin line and especially the dots of the eyes.

Mr Grill’s hard work earned him an AOI Overall New Talent Winner & Children’s Book New Talent, 2014 award.

There was, of coarse, a lot of talent at AOI Illustration Awards 2014, Jillan Tamaki, Geoff Grandfield, Jasu Hu, to name a few, so do not be surprised if I post more about it in the weeks to come.