Ridiculously detailed and always a little trashy, we can't get enough of Bridget Meyne

As an illustrator, comic maker, character designer and storyboarder, Bridget Meyne juggles a range of different roles within the world of drawing. First introduced to her via animator Sophie Koko Gate who told us about her ability to draw “beefy ladies”, we’ve since been hooked on Bridget’s ability to illustrate detailed worlds, while also retaining the ability to have you doubled over laughing. Also, we’re pretty sure she can draw the texture of pretty much anything you ask her to.

Working freelance for the past two years, Bridget has always loved drawing and admits it took her a little while to “turn that into a viable way of earning a living,” she tells us. Finding work behind the scenes – “I think it takes a while to realise there is a lot more to illustration than getting the big name jobs!” – Bridget often works as a scribe, “which is live drawing at events and really forces you to draw anything, on demand and under time pressure, which has been really great practice”. More recently she has moved more into working with animators, again, enjoying the fast pace nature of the medium.

But within her own work the illustrator often finds it hard to describe exactly what she does, explaining how “I like to be pretty fluid in the techniques and outputs that I make!” Primarily however, Bridget finds that cartoonist best describes her approach, as someone “interested in telling stories, and creating imagined worlds, which is why I make comics in my personal practice.” Basing much of her independent work around what she’s reading at the time, what these comics might be founded on is brilliantly vast. “I find a lot of inspiration trawling the internet and I like to reference anything I find funny or stupid – internet hacks, YouTube tutorials, outfits, internet culture, the bizarre, it can be anything. Trashy!”

Yet tonally in Bridget’s works there’s always something a little darker. Sometimes in subject matter, it’s mostly a stylistic approach that adds this, either in the intricate marks of a sketch or its colour palette. Partly influenced by her longstanding love of horror, “I think that seeps into my work in some of the darker storylines and more dystopian imagery,” she explains. The characters are always confident no matter the context, always loving a “wacky outfit and realistic flesh,” she tells us, adding, “I also love to draw boots.”

One drawing of boots demonstrates this perfectly. Not only does it hint to something else, an extra storyline somewhere not to mention a strong character, it showcases her ability to utilise texture as almost its own character trait – representing its sheen with carefully illustrated ripples. “I love the challenge of drawing a difficult surface!” she adds on this point. “It’s easy to get carried away in drawing textures like hair. I find it pretty therapeutic to choose a difficult subject and then spend a long time drawing it –sometimes I’ll do it to test a new method out.”

Continuing to juggle different drawing roles, Bridget tells us she’s excitingly spent the first half of this year working on a series in development with Sophie Koko Gate, “which has been an absolute dream to do.” Following on from their work together on Sophie’s film Slug Life, Bridget’s taking care of the additional character design, storyboarding, “and whatever else I am asked to do, which is how I love to work anyway – it’s super varied and the ideas are wild, so I love to draw it!” Similarly working with James Papper on Camden Hells’ most recent advert where Bridget could be found drawing “loads of different outfits for weeks”, the illustrator even got her first taste of getting recognised on the telly too.

While currently working away on her own plans for a much longer narrative project – “but I’m just gathering ideas at the moment!”– overall Bridget’s biggest hope is that viewers “find something in them that speaks to them,” she tells us, “whether that’s visually or in subject matter, or, they just think they are disgusting. Any reaction is ok.”