Paul Holland

Overview

Paris is now the home of British artist Paul Holland, whose tightly composed contemporary illustration style has become a favourite with leading art directors – particularly in editorial and publishing.

Paul grew up in Leicester, and since he was small has had a passion for drawing. He trained, and was a tattoo artist for four years, even inking the late Peaches Geldof. Besides creating images, he loves house music and clubbing in Paris, photography, and dunking biscuits in his tea.

Training

Paul attended Kingston University where he received a BA Hons in Illustration.

Approach

Paul thinks he might be a bit of a neat freak, and as a consequence his work is tight, realistic and graphic. He draws meticulously from real life and photographic references, adds in some mark making and scans his work in to be processed in Photoshop. He’s a spontaneous artist and doesn’t create roughs before working on a piece. Instead he dives right in and sets evolution on its course.

Style

Edgy, graphic, clean and trendy is how Paul’s work is often described. He likes to juice it up with wow factor, is always conscious of negative space, and his faces are sometimes so real they look photographic. In the back of his mind are the striking visuals from a magazine that influences Paul quite deeply - The Face, Neville Brody’s masterpiece of postmodern magazine design.

Client List

• Marie Claire
• GQ
• FHM
• The Times
• The Times Style magazine
• Attitude
• TÊTU
• Première
• Samsung
• L'Oreal