Stephen Ledwidge has a four page interview and profile in the February’s issue of Korean magazine monthly W.E.B.

News posted - Saturday, February 16th, 2008 | Visit - Stephen Ledwidge's profile..

Stephen Ledwidge has illustrated two pieces for the February issue of Esquire magazine (Russia). Stephen was among a number of illustrators asked to create a pencil self-portrait for the fashion section including clothing from the newest collections.

News posted - Friday, February 8th, 2008 | Visit - Stephen Ledwidge's profile..

Stephen Ledwidge has two pieces in this months Harvard Business Review - the article is titled ‘Transforming Giants’. The article concerns large corporations and how in the past the have been seen as lumbering giants but recently some multinationals seem to be transforming themselves by engaging employees and introducing innovations that show their connection with the world.

News posted - Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 | Visit - Stephen Ledwidge's profile..

Originally posted on Scamp.ie

One of the IGI’s newest members Stephen creates powerful images that bridge the narrowing gap between Fine Art and Illustration and now that he has moved back to Ireland we are going to see a lot more of him. And I for one am more than a little excited by that…read on.

BB: Do you have a process you follow when you are making your pictures? Research, trawling the internet, books, sketching, materials?
PD: Yeah there generally tends to be a similar process to making images. With editorial jobs, after reading the article or editors summary I’ll do a few initial sketches make notes etc. and do any research that needs to be done on the subject. Research usually involves going through books or some of my scrapbooks – I started putting these together a few years ago, they’re basically clipping print outs or whatever I’ve come across that I find interesting in magazines or on the internet. I take reference photos all the time and keep them all together.

I usually try to step away from it for a bit, although I’ll still be thinking about it. So I’ll do some other work and when I come back to it I’ll usually have a fairly good idea of where I want to go with the piece. I’ll do a few more thumbnails and send these to the client. I’ve started sending roughs to clients at an earlier stage recently just so I can get a better feel for the reaction on the direction of the piece before spending too much time on the finer details – like getting a pose exactly right or facial expression etc.

Once I gotten feedback I’ll start doing a fully worked sketch before enlarging this and starting on the painting and pencil work. These then get scanned and I do a bit of retouching in photoshop – cleaning up and colour adjustment. I might flatten some of the colours and a lot of the time I’ll do a bunch of elements – mostly pencil work – that I’ll only make the final decision on once I have them on screen.

BB: Can you describe your workspace and how important it is to your working process?
PD: I’m just after moving back to Dublin from London so I’m trying to get set up with a new work space and want to get it sorted more to the way I want it. At the moment I’m kind of getting set up, and am trying to do it as quick as possible. I’d say probably the most important thing is to have a good source of light. It’s particularly important when I’m painting to be able not to have any crazy shadows when I’m working close to a piece and being able to see the colours properly. Also having space to have things spread out on the floor or desk – just things like old pieces of my own or books, this along with having two areas one to do computer work and one for drawing and painting – so I can jump easily between the two.

BB: Describe your timeline of artistic influences and has there been anyone consistently?
PD: I suppose there is a bit of a development in the sort of people that I’m interested in and the way my work has developed. I started off being very interested in comics and worked for a while putting a folio together and went to a few comic conventions showing it around. So I was interested in some of the 2000ad work but after going around with my folio I was put off the whole area and started getting more into painting work and getting my drawing and communication skills up to scratch.

I studied Visual Communication and was working as a graphic designer and as I was painting and drawing more I started looking to illustration as a direction that I worked more and more towards. I started looking at people reading stuff by Stephen Heller and looking to designers , illustrators and painters like Brian Cronin, Milton Glasier, Jody Hewgill, Mark Ulriksen as well as painters like David Hockney, Lucien Freud, Frieda Kahlo and a whole bunch of other things. I was a regular visitor to the British Museum and V&A when I lived in London so I wouldn’t say it was strictly confined to illustration and design – basically it’s wide open to people that communicate visually in dynamic, engaging and visually interesting ways.

BB: What would be a dream project to work on, a fantasy commission, a ‘pinch yourself’, ’slap me in the mouth and tell me it’s Christmas’ job?
PD: I’ve been fortunate enough to be getting some really interesting commissions lately so that’s great. I think the area of illustration has become massively varied over the last few years and I really enjoy getting emails with prospective jobs in areas that I’d never have considered. I think though one main thing I’d love to do is book covers. I loved the illustrated classics covers that Penguin did recently and to get to that level of work would be amazing and something I’d be blown away if I ever got to do.

BB: If you weren’t illustrating, what else would you be doing?
PD: Hmmm it’s kind of hard to think what else I’d do. Maybe some sort of highway wanderer walking the roads of Europe contemplating the mysteries of the world?

News posted - Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 | Visit - Stephen Ledwidge's profile..

Applied Arts Illustration Annual 2007
American Illustration 26 (chosen)
3×3 magazine - showcased, issue 6

News posted - Saturday, January 6th, 2007 | Visit - Stephen Ledwidge's profile..