Liam O'Farrell — Watercolour Architectural Illustrator, UK

Growing up in Portsmouth, on the south coast of England, Liam decided at the age of 10 that he wanted to be an artist. Just about every decision thereafter was steered by that goal. After studying, he moved to London where he stayed for 23 years. For a while he ran a busy design studio on top of his illustration work. Later he relocated to the tiny town of Pilton in Somerset, near to where the Glastonbury Festival is held. Liam loves being out on his allotment planting and nurturing food for the table. He has turned various old brass instruments into plant pots and an old trombone has been converted into a water feature - it even makes a parping noise once it gets going. Liam hates snobbery of any kind, but particularly in art. His favourite artists include Spencer, Lowry and Wallis.

Training

Liam has an HND in Technical Illustration from Portsmouth Art College.

Approach

After a discussion with the client Liam will tend to deliver quite a detailed drawing to make sure there’s no confusion about what he’ll be creating. He’ll then use inks and watercolours to render the image, with postproduction work done in Photoshop – adding or boosting colours, usually. That said, his work never looks Photoshopped.

Key Software

Photoshop

Style

People tend to recognise Liam’s old school illustration style straight away. It’s not cartoony, and it’s not serious, and does have architectural and character elements to it as required. He never uses borders, letting the painting sit on a stark white surround for a great deal of impact. Thus it always works in context with typography.

Client list

Tatler O2 The Times Liberty’s of London Perspectives in Architecture BBC Books Macmillan The Big issue One Housing Group Meed