Artists & Illustrators

Artists & Illustrators is the UK’s best-selling magazine for artists and art lovers, providing advice and inspiration every month. Published for almost 25 years, each issue of Artists & Illustrators contains a colourful palette of profiles and features, together with valuable practical ideas, expert technical advice and useful product tests. Whether you favour oils or watercolours, portraits or landscapes, abstract art or botanical illustration, Artists & Illustrators brings a refreshing blend of creativity and advice every four weeks throughout the year.

From the editor

INTRODUCING

Sketchbook • TIPS • ADVICE • EXHIBITIONS • NEWS • REVIEWS

1 YEAR FOR JUST £39.99

THE DIARY • Open calls, prizes and artist opportunities

Exhibitions • THE BEST ART SHOWS TO VISIT FROM THIS MONTH ONWARDS

WIN A professional, quality drawing bundle • Four lucky winners will take home a full artist’s set worth over £250, courtesy of STEADTLER

We present… • Coastal scenes and seascapes inspire this artist, especially if they have huge, dramatic skies

Alice Boggis-Rolfe • This oil artist’s work ranges from vast, open landscapes to portraits and intimate interiors. Sarah Edghill hears what inspires her creativity

Johnty Robinson • This artist turned classical training into a disciplined, full-time painting career

Sergej Draskovic • The winner of the 2026 Raw Umber Image Reference Prize, Serbian artist SERGEJ DRASKOVIC, tells Niki Browes how he approaches portraiture

Haidee-Jo Summers • This artist’s work features fresh and vibrant brushwork coupled with keen drawing and observational skills. The results are lively, celebratory paintings that glow with light and sing with colour. Niki Browes gets a deeper insight

Meet the judges! • Our annual art competition goes from strength to strength and attracts entries by the thousands every year. With prizes galore – and unmatched press coverage for winners and finalists – we hand you over to the judges

James McNeill Whistler • Considered to be the first contemporary artist, JAMES MCNEILL WHISTLER, shocked Victorian society with his avant-garde ideas and how flagrantly he courted attention, says Martha Alexander. But under the showmanship was a serious painter who was ahead of his time, as a major retrospective at Tate Britain is set to lay bare

To those who speak • LUKE ADAM HAWKER was an architectural designer before becoming a full-time artist. He has just published To Those Who Speak, a best-selling book documenting, through words and drawings, the five-year period after the birth of his non-verbal son, Harry.

Step-by-step studio • Each month we speak to a member of the British Art Club about their art practice, and how they get it done. Here, graphic portrait artist, MARK SIMPSON, shares his arty lifehacks and insights

Everything in the garden • JANET MAYLED uses acrylic to paint an allotment where found objects shape the visual narrative

Ripple effect • NAOMI JENKIN shows how to study light and movement to create an illusion of depth in a seascape in oils

Creating wool textures • Sometimes, it’s exciting to be creative with your colours. JESS PRITCHARD creates this alpaca with warm hues, using the fabulous Derwent Drawing Pencil range, chosen for it’s beautifully soft texture and nature inspired colour palette

Roadside attractions • From historic homes, ancient farms and noteworthy architecture, ROGER DE MUTH has found painting small scale can be a lot of fun. Here, he shows you how he painted a village scene in New York state

Perfect match • RODNEY KINGSTON dons his wet weather gear and creates a busy football stadium scene in oil

Let there be light • TOM SHEPHERD uses just three colours to...