As a queer artist who is currently studying Illustration at degree level, I have a constant need to be creating and getting ideas down on a page. A large amount of my artwork revolves around my mental health. This isn’t just to raise awareness for something that so many people suffer with but also because making work about how I feel is a one of the ways I manage to understand my own hard to handle emotions. The absurdity of my work is inspired by the way I, as an artist, view the world. People with creative minds tend to view the world more freely and I think that really aids my work.

I’m a self-taught queer artist. A lot of my art is me expressing my opinions on LGBTQ+ issues but I also do some mental health awareness pieces & quotes as well as 70s style music & film posters. But expect anything, I have no particular style & I’m always open to ideas!

As an artist, I have always had a love for illustration, drawing, and expressing my thoughts and feelings in physical and tangible ways. I have found that the creative process of making art helps me to connect to myself in a way that nothing else can quite achieve. I find working on illustrative projects the most fulfilling as I don’t feel any restrictions in what I’m able to create; I'm constantly evolving and learning as well as picking up new mediums here and there to experiment with. Over the years, no matter what I create, I’ve found art to be one of the most freeing and grounding forms of connection, both to myself and others.

I am an illustrator who likes making moving images. My work focuses on character-led storytelling and loose narratives, in addition to pattern design and merchandise. I aspire to create work that transports the viewer into a fantasy world, reimagining the ordinary through whimsical thoughts and 'what-if's. I choose to use a mixture of digital and analogue processes to enhance the movement within my work, and create a sense of naivety through mark making.

My name is Mea, and I’m a self taught illustrator from Essex. I started this has a hobby during the first UK lockdown over a year ago now, and then I realised people actually quite liked what I was making! Since then I have been featured in magazines talking about social issues and my art work, released clothing, and have taken on hundreds of commissions. My skills and style has developed and improved so much in the last 15 months and is constantly changing to fit what I like in that moment. My artwork often revolves around feminism and bringing serious issues to light in a colourful way people are more willing to learn about, I often talk about LGBTQIA issues being a part of the community myself! Other than that, the rest of my work is a lot of pink and things I just enjoy. The more I enjoy my own work, the more other people like it too!

My name is Rae and I’m a 20-year-old self-taught visual artist based in London. I specialise in digital portraiture. At the centre of my work are black faces to highlight the beauty of blackness. I believe that instead of categorising ‘black art’ as a niche genre which excludes black people as abnormal, we should be a common feature of mainstream art. After all, we don’t have ‘white art’! Black people in art are also used as objects to tell stories about slavery and oppression, so I paint black figures with plain backgrounds to humanise black people in art.

My work is bright and colourful, with heavy use of layer effects because I think they add a lot of visual excitement to pieces. I love focusing on clothes and hair and really making them stand out from the rest of the illustration.

My name is Megha, I’m 20 and I study BA English at Royal Holloway. I am the Associate Editor Arts for TNE and I am a queer abstract artist. I enjoy fusing words and images to create visual poems. I use art as a form of escapism and often to reflect the state of my mental health. I have recently started experimenting with digital art, but more commonly use canvases and acrylic paint. I am inspired by music, faces and words. I like being able to express my emotions and my writing through my art.

My name is G and I am an undergraduate psychology student going into my final year. I studied art and design for 4 years to achieve GCSE and A level qualifications, but it wasn’t until a year later - the first lockdown in 2020 - that I truly found my passion for painting and developed my skills. I started to sell decorative CD hanging pieces with custom designs, donating 20% of the proceeds from each order to ‘Mind’ charity. Since then, my art has centred around the receiver, creating their vision, in an effort to spread some good feelings and with the hope that that positivity might ricochet. It is only recently that I’ve started to explore my own vision and what is born from simply being still with my creativity. I love being on this journey and regardless of what my work looks like, the process is what is most important to me.