I’m Emily Redfearn! I am a freelance illustrator & Animator working largely in advertising, packaging and digital media. I use a mixture of After effects and frame by frame animation, mostly creating vector illustration. I also love lettering and creating type pieces within my illustration work. I have been working for myself for the last 5 years, some of the clients I have worked for include Lidl, Vodafone, Quorn, Formula 2, DCMS and of course Printed by Us.
I have always loved art and drawing since being a kid. I wanted to study fine art but the only creative course my college offered was graphic design, so I did that instead! This was when I started looking at digital art and the history of graphic design, which I loved. I then went on to study this at university. Originally I was drawing and creating more traditional illustrations, then gradually I became more and more digital, especially as I ventured more into animation and motion design. My first creative job was as a graphic designer, before I moved into motion graphics roles. I went freelance when a new job fell through at the start of the pandemic which has led me to be where I am now!
I like to see my work as a window into a world I have created, and the characters and environments I draw make up this world! It is always bright, colourful, playful and full of the things I love. Sometimes it includes humans, sometimes it’s made up of personified characters that would usually be inanimate. It is cathartic to keep expanding and working on what this world looks and feels like. It’s taken a long time to get to how I draw now, but I feel like it’s the most accurate representation of my personality.
It has been great working with Printed by Us, I have the best memories from our projects together. Before I worked with Printed by Us, I first worked with the Archer Project while I was studying at university. I wanted to work with homeless charities having met and worked with homeless people in my part time job I did while studying. It opened my eyes to how quickly and easily someone’s situation can lead to homelessness, and how difficult the cycle is. We did a project together with some of the people who received support there. We workshopped how to decorate their interview room then installed illustrations together that I’d drawn. From this I heard about Printed by Us which was when we started working together making prints, GIFs and other merch in the following years. I also then worked in the building next door to them which was fate! Having known and worked with Printed by Us and the amazing people there has been a privilege, they bring a brightness to the world and make a true difference, while also giving great opportunities to emerging and established artists.
I worked on the Sheffield Wednesday & Sheffield United prints back in the day, which was a collaboration with Chris Hood who made the original design. We made some fun GIFs together for the Printed by Us website and social media too. Most recently we made the mushroom tee design which was so much fun, I love everything fungi.
Creativity plays a vital role in sustainable and social causes, the two are strongly connected, not just in what we create, but in how we choose to create it. I remember buying a skirt a couple of years ago from Lucy & Yak which had a dissolvable label, when you cut it out instead of throwing it away you only needed to run it under water for it to dissolve away. It was such a clever and creative idea, not only being better for the environment than throwing it into landfill, but it was like playing with a science experiment in the process of disposing of it more sustainably. If more companies looked at creatively solving more problems like this, the world would be a much better place. Looking at creativity more literally, the way we use art and illustration can be a great tool to make people more aware of social and sustainable causes, just as Printed by Us does. We are drawn to interesting, man-made things like art and creativity as it naturally peaks our interest. It can send a message or make a statement, sometimes without using words at all. This is such a powerful tool to use in highlighting the issues we want to talk about!
I have got some fun projects I can’t share much about that will be released this summer. There have been some lovely packaging projects I’ve been working on which I have enjoyed so much, I have illustrated a magazine cover coming out soon, and a new merchandise line for a charity. There are some personal projects I am looking forward to making this summer too (I love making projects for myself, they are great to dip my toes into topics I might not have drawn yet!). I really like seasonal themes, so I will be exploring summery topics at the moment – expect lots of bright sunny scenes!
