Live fashion illustration by Jacqueline Bissett brings a unique form of entertainment to an event, as well as providing visitors with a special experience and something to take home at the end. Hugely experienced, Jackie has drawn in retail outlets for some of the world’s biggest fashion labels, helped leading beauty brands launch new lines and created individual artworks for luxury jewellery companies.
One of Jackie’s many skills is making guests feel comfortable. If they’re shy about sitting in front of a crowd, she’ll take their picture and work from that. She can draw digitally on an iPad Pro with the image projected to a big screen, or using oriental brushes and acrylic inks which are embellished with watercolours and coloured Letraset for an exclusive finish. She turns images around in 10-15 minutes and always gets lovely feedback from visitors.
Approach
Flexibility is key, and prior to an event Jackie will practice in a style that suits the brand she’s working with and its colour palette. On the day she’ll do a 45-minute warm-up to get into the zone. When working with traditional media she draws roughs first and traces over them using her portable lightbox – guests often want to keep the roughs as much as the final image.Style
Spontaneity and a focus on beautiful line work are what characterise Jackie’s live event drawing style. She picks out the sitter’s best lines and aims for a flattering finish so they’ll want to frame their free custom artwork.