New work

The Surtex follow-up continues apace. I have two fabulous new commissions from US publishers - more on those when I can reveal the details - I've been busy putting together fabric collections for sales meetings in Australia, Japan and Korea, and I've sold a collection direct to a great new client in the US.

I also managed to squeeze in the last Make Art That Sells Bootcamp assignment, which was to create a journal cover using zinnias. I'm no botanist and honestly, I've never seen a zinnia in my life. Turns out they are a wonderful variety of round, pom-pom flowers, attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies. 

The final piece, a colourful journal cover © Emma McGowan 2016

Perfect for wall art, a stationery set or how about a planner and calendar? © Emma McGowan 2016

If you'd like to license this design or talk about how it could be applied to your products or publications, please do contact me.

My take on adult colouring books

It's all stations go preparing for SURTEX (come and see me in Booth 229!) but I couldn't resist joining in with the Make Art That Sells Bootcamp. You just can't beat a fun and market-specific brief from Lilla Rogers. Lilla is so on-trend with what the market wants there's always a lightbulb moment when the brief arrives. Oh, of course, adult colouring books...!

She got us started drawing 1920s hairstyles. Here's my finished piece and a few of my sketches along the way. I'll be working this up into a full book pitch and submitting it to one of my publishing clients straight after SURTEX.

Mock up of the front cover © Emma McGowan 2016

An early sketch, a version of which ended up in the top left hand corner of the finished piece (see above)

This lady didn't make the cut despite her very on-trend turban!