Lily Snowden-Fine's lovingly layered illustrations

Lily Snowden-Fine’s surname mirrors her fine, fine illustration work. A second year student at OCAD university in Toronto, the illustrator has developed a charming portfolio of heart-warming and pleasant drawings. As an artist, Lily also “moves between paintings, jewellery, animation and reheating tea several times before remembering to drink it all”.

Lily’s style is honest; each of the illustrations on her website are refined but still appear as if they could have been scanned straight from her sketchbook. A consistent medium used throughout Lily’s work is colourful sketches, with pencil marks layered on top of one another to add texture to her pieces.

This is a technique best demonstrated in Parasite an illustration that intermixes monochrome pencil sketches against a saturated pink background that the illustrator balances delicately with tiny characters exploring a playground. Another, The Painter pushes Lily’s capabilities further, using a mix of mediums painting on top of an image to add context and hilarity. Lily is an illustrator who creates sweet work with thoughtful tendencies that ultimately make for a clever portfolio.