MillyMollyMandy
This British illustrator captures the magical innocence of youth
By Christy Mannering
Published: June 3rd, 2007 | 8:37pm
Great illustrators find art worthy material everywhere the look. Whether it is a piece of fruit sitting in a bowl three feet away or a sun-washed landscape out their back window, it can be created into a masterpiece. Mandy Sutcliffe is an illustrator from London who finds sitting in a park to be the most inspiring avenue for her art. Though she could always draw, she says she struggled with it for a while, before relaxing and learning to enjoy it all over again. Sutcliffe eventually went on to study illustration at Leeds University. Now it is safe to say she has mastered the art of sketching children in their element.
When I asked Sutcliffe why she is interested in drawing children, she told me about time she spent in Paris during an exchange with her university. "The Parisian children had such an elegant, old fashioned charm about them, very classic clothes and hair styles. They reminded me a lot of the characters from my favorite childhood story books," she says. It is evident she has glorious memories of her childhood story books because the images she sketches are nothing short of innocent magic. She assures me that this inspiration goes deeper than just nostalgia and sweet sentiments. Even at a young age she appreciated the craft of illustrating. "I remember winning a book token when I was 9 and buying The Water Babies, illustrated by Mabel Lucie Attwell, purely because of the beautiful paintings. I still go back to it for inspiration."
There is no denying that Sutcliffe has been given a beautiful gift. Her artwork is sold internationally and she has illustrated three children's books, while also writing one of her own. Sutcliffe currently has an online shop on Etsy.com called "MillyMollyMandy" but this will be changing to "belle & boo" in a few weeks as Belle and Boo are two characters she most loves to draw. As it stands most of her prints are scenes which include precious little girls. Sutcliffe explains, "I must admit I draw girls more because, I like the shapes they make, with their dresses and hair styles, I do like pretty things!" She is planning on drawing inspiration from Christopher Robin illustrations to perfect her drawings of little boys.
Thankfully, Sutcliffe liking pretty things has added beauty to our lives as well. With her favorite 0.9mm 2B propelling pencil and anywhere from an hour to a couple of days (depending on the illustration) she is churning out images of childhood in huge numbers. She laughed when she said she wished she knew the secret behind what takes one illustration an hour to be complete and another several days. "I don't know why, I wish I knew the secret, sometimes they just work first time. Sometimes I can struggle with a drawing all day and then get it right within 5 minutes half asleep, before my cup of coffee the next morning! What people don't see behind the simple line work is the hundreds of screwed up previous attempts in the bin!" My feeling is that Ms. Sutcliffe is just being modest, I'm sure I would frame even the crumpled-up drawings she throws into the bin.
I couldn't decide which print I liked best, so I ordered a couple of my very own. Sutcliffe's favorite of the moment is called Tree Hugger because "it reminds me of a lovely lazy walk I took with a good friend and her 3 year old daughter, who insisted on hugging every tree along the way and she really hugged them you know, like they were hugging her back. I love that children have the inclination and the time to do things like that, I'd marched past those trees hundreds of times before, but I saw them properly for the first time that day."Hearing the story directly from the illustrator makes the art even more delightful.
MillyMollyMandy sells greeting cards, buttons, note cards, and prints. Whether the sketch begins with a pencil or with ink, it is then finished by being digitally colored. Each piece is printed on high quality 100% cotton artist paper, then signed and carefully packaged in its own secure sleeve before shipped.
"I like to think the children I illustrate are representative of hundreds of little boys and girls out there, I try to make them timeless."Sutcliffe says that she feels lucky to make her living illustrating since that is her passion; but I say the rest of us are the lucky ones.
Issue #35
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