Artists & Illustrators

Artists & Illustrators is the UK’s best-selling magazine for artists and art lovers, providing advice and inspiration every month. Published for almost 25 years, each issue of Artists & Illustrators contains a colourful palette of profiles and features, together with valuable practical ideas, expert technical advice and useful product tests. Whether you favour oils or watercolours, portraits or landscapes, abstract art or botanical illustration, Artists & Illustrators brings a refreshing blend of creativity and advice every four weeks throughout the year.

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INTRODUCING

Artists & Illustrators

Sketchbook • TIPS • ADVICE • EXHIBITIONS • NEWS • REVIEWS

THE DIARY • Open calls, prizes and artist opportunities

Exhibitions • THE BEST ART SHOWS TO VISIT FROM THIS MONTH ONWARDS

WIN • A watercolour retreat on the Dorset coast

Curtains up! • The British Art Prize 2025 exceeded expectations, with thousands of outstanding entries, a show stopping panel of judges and prizes a-plenty. Here’s a sneak-peak behind the exclusive private view

Lizzie Coles • This artist’s striking portraits have won numerous awards over the last few years. Here, she tells Sarah Edghill why she has never worried too much about the realism of colour

HOW I MAKE IT WORK Ian Archie Beck • This artist and illustrator shares how he transformed a modest upbringing into a lifetime of creative achievement

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Phoebe Stewart Carter • The winner of the Raw Umber Studios Paint Off 2025 is a classically trained artist who now works on private projects and commissions from her studio in Gloucestershire. Niki Browes drops in to find out more

Geoff Allen • This en plein air artist tells Sarah Edghill why he believes that adversity is necessary for artists to really experience nature

Lucian Freud Drawing into painting • A new exhibition exploring LUCIAN FREUD’s drawings, featuring rarely-seen sketches and preparatory studies alongside iconic paintings, offers insight into one of the greatest realist artists of the 20th century, finds Amanda Hodges

Late bloomer • She was the painfully shy landlady whose cheeky paintings made her a household name. Now, the late BERYL COOK OBE is to be celebrated with a comprehensive show in her hometown, Plymouth, finds Martha Alexander

STEP-BY-STEP studio • The Head of Art at a games company, artist and British Art Club member, ANDY GILWHALLEY gives you his tips on staying creative

The ripple effect • SEMA MARTIN demonstrates how she achieved this happy duckling in coloured pencil

Hare! Hare! • Artist and author JO ALLSOPP got stuck in with a STAEDTLER bundle, including their brand new Artist Series Mars Lumograph Colour Aquarell Watercolour pencils

Rockin’ Rockho pper penguin • Based in her Cotswold studios, PENEL KIRK creates animal portraits in mixed media. Here, she shows you how she painted this zany-looking Rockhopper penguin

Stone cold • JOHN HARRISON captures these cow barns in the Yorkshire Dales using pen I always and watercolour wash

Mountain high • Fresh from her brand-new book Painting Landscapes, INGA BUIVIDAVICE shares an exclusive extract on the beauties of using the wet-on-wet technique in watercolour

Picture this • Every month, we invite an artist to share a painting that holds a special meaning for them. This month, American landscape artist PETER BATCHELDER tells us about this piece