Homegirl London pays homage to Lucie Sheridan. This screen printer is known for her bold and colourful naïve images which appeal to the inner adult child. She illustrates everything from super cute sausage dogs to delicious doughnuts, adorable owls and even boobs and moobs! More recently Lucie has featured iconic London department stores including Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and Liberty. Aside from screen print wall art, Lucie has licensed her work which can be found adorning everything from serving trays to tea towels, cushions, tote bags, stationery notebooks, greeting cards and more. Her simple, humorous illustrations make these objects into unique gifts which will certainly bring a smile to your face. I caught up with Lucie Sheridan to find out more.
Sausage Dog Lampshades and Cushion
Meet Lucie Sheridan
Lucie tells me about her days as a student – “I studied a fantastic foundation course at Kingston University. It was really intensive but very rewarding, I learned a good working ethic and the tutors were genuinely passionate about their jobs and wanted their students to excel. I learned to become tenacious and to believe in myself. This was followed by Illustration at the University of West of England. My degree was at a much slower pace but was outstanding thanks to Ian McCullough, an intelligent, witty and personable character who was my tutor and mentor.”
Lucie at Work
“I had a couple of work placements which were helpful to clarify what I did and didn’t want to do as a career. One was at a packaging design company which wasn’t really for me. However, the placement at Abbot Mead Vickers advertising agency was perfect. I discovered that the creative industry really suited me. I loved brainstorming sessions, communicating ideas and engaging with colleagues.”
Doughnut Lampshade and Tea Towel
Lucie wanted to put her artistic training to good use so signed up with an illustration agency to promote herself as a freelance illustrator. She reveals – “I have been drawing since I don’t know when so a job doing just that really appealed to me. My father is self-employed and I’ve always admired his ambition and tenacity so I thought I’d work for myself doing the one thing I loved. I took out a loan when I graduated from University in 2003 and got busy drawing.” It wasn’t long before Lucie’s style became recognised by manufacturers who licensed her illustrations for home accessories and gifts.
Boobs Cushion, Boobs Tote Bag, Moobs Cushion and Cock Tote Bag
Staying put and launching her business in Bristol was an easy decision for Lucie, she explains – “I first studied here thirteen years ago and I have never felt that the City has stopped offering me opportunities. So many great people live here and there is a lot to keep you occupied in terms of music, food and much more. It’s also a ‘mouldable’ sized city which offers me superb affordable studio space at Centrespace Studios located right in the Centre of town. I work solo but share my studio space with Simon Tozer so we enjoy each other’s creative processes. I do love my own company but if I do get bored there are plenty of other people to a have a cuppa with. My partner Paul Farrell is also graphic designer. He’s a big rock in my journey and we hope to team up and create work together in the future, I can’t wait!”
Lucie Sheridan Collection
Lucie is known for creating fun, bright and witty screen prints. She elaborates – “I love screen printing because it’s almost an immediate process which suits my impatient personality. Thank goodness Andy Warhol made it into an art form in the 60s and big thanks to Dave Fortune who taught me how to screen print at University! This format works well with my bold and colourful imagery.” Lucie describes her work – “My designs are really about appealing to the inner adult child. Some of my memorable pictures have been sausage dogs in vivid colours, an assortment of doughnuts, boobs, moobs (man boobs) and owls.” Lucie continues – “I also love to play on words, these can often be the real source of inspiration for me. For example, my Load of Bull picture shows a lot of bulls, Kettle of Fish features fish in the shape of a kettle, in Bus Stop you see a lot of buses coming to a stop and Cab Queue has black cabs queuing up. It’s a literal play on words which appeals to me”
Bus Stop, Kettle of Fish and Cab Queue Screen Prints
The current collection is a London Shopping Series called Shoppers Paradise. Lucie explains – “This work is in collaboration with ‘We Built This City’ which is a pop up shop based at 56-57 Carnaby Street, London W1F 9QF. They sell modern souvenirs made by up and coming designer makers and creative talent. I have made limited edition screen prints especially for this outlet which are called; Shopping at Selfridges, Shopping at Liberty London, Fortnum & Mason Gifts and High Tea at the Ritz. These are in a selection of bright colours which I feel sum up the personality of each place, for example, Liberty to me is purple and Fortnum & Mason is Eau de Nil.”
Liberty, Fortnum & Mason, Ritz and Selfridge Screen Prints
Aside from the illustrations, you have probably spotted Lucie’s work on tea towels, serving trays, coasters, cushions, lamp shades, tote bags, stationery notebooks, greeting cards and sticky tape. This is because she licenses her drawings to other companies who produce the home accessories and gifts.
Buy Lucie Sheridan Products
If you love Lucie’s work, you can buy her pieces online at Lucie Sheridan Shop. To give you an idea about prices, the Shoppers Paradise screen prints are £42 whiles other designs are priced between £32-75. Cushions are £26-36, Tea Towels £10 and Tote Bags £10. These products can also be shipped overseas. Lucie is available for commissions and licensing her illustrations so if you are interested just send her an email via the website.
Author: Homegirl London. Photographs: Lucie. Thanks: Lucie.
