Illustrator’s Portfolio 137:
GEMMA MILLY
Age: 30 Nationality: British Living in: South East England What is in your sketchbook? My sketchbook is a mixture of scribbles, notes, and thoughts – I use it to quickly record ideas before I forget, so there’s not really much logic to it. There are ideas for patterns that I might use in an illustration or for a product, sketches of flora & fauna, rough drawings for potential fashion illustration and lots of lists. Where do you illustrate? I work from a small studio in my house at the moment. There is good natural light and it’s nice and quiet so I can concentrate. I usually have music on in the background and a stack of magazine to flick through for inspiration. What inspires your work? I’m a really girly girl, so the sorts of things that inspire me are pattern, the female form, old fashioned French design and anything handmade. I spend a lot of time looking at the work of illustrators too, to see what other people are up to and what the current trends in illustration are. There are so many talented artists out there, but I particularly admire Erica Sharp, Erin Petson, Tina Bering and Stina Persson. What music do you listen to? It completely depends on my mood, but I listen to all sorts of music from folk-inspired bands like Beirut and Laura Marling, to experimental rock such as Vessels and Oceansize. I also love Joni Mitchell, Seabear, Bonobo. Yourcodenameis:milo and Iron & Wine. What did you have for breakfast? I’ve given up wheat and dairy at the moment in an attempt to detox, so for breakfast this morning I had oats with rice milk, blueberries and strawberries. 
