Go Radiate is Melissa Doran
hello lovely :)
Scene from the movie Murder On The Orient Express
Naturama and My Naturama Nature Journal out now
A dream project for me as a life long nature lover, Naturama and My Naturama Nature Journal were a joy to illustrate. I got to work on researching and drawing Irish wildlife throughout the seasons and I’m so happy with the result. The books were co created with the writer Michael Fewer and published by Gill Books. Naturama came out first and is a beautiful introduction to Irish wildlife, regardless of whether you live in the countryside or in the city, there’s lots of things to learn about and get you started as a nature enthusiast. It was so cool to see it become a number one bestseller and meet loads of wonderful children who were loving the book! My Naturama Nature Journal has projects for children to do outside and field guide notes sections to write and draw in. It gets everyone outside turning rocks upside down looking for worms :) Click here for all the latest Naturama related news….
Hello…
Portrait by Firechild Photograpy
I became an illustrator because I wanted to be able to spread love and happiness through my work. I’m now studying animation for the year so I’m looking forward to making bigger projects and collaborating! I’m excited to be on the artists panel for workshops in The Dock in Leitrim this year and have delivered a few workshops already, the next one is on Saturday morning May 5th (Making Shape Shifting Books, book here), and then another on National Drawing Day, May 19th, more details to follow!
I facilitate a variety of art workshops for children but they all centre around cultivating a love of nature. Some examples of past workshops include nature journalling, nature printing, wildflower sketch walks and making nature mobiles.
In my own art practice I love having a hand drawn feel to my work. I teach a digital illustration workshop and am skilled with creating work digitally, but I always like the idea of making the computer side of things invisible – using it to enhance my drawings but letting the end result feel hand made.
My undergraduate degree is in Architecture (B.Sc from UCD) and I have a Masters in Digital Media Technology (DIT). I am also an Adobe Certified Expert in Illustrator.
Watch me on TV talking about Naturama (2016) and how I draw. If you can’t see it on youtube, watch it here on Facebook..
Pocket Portraits
I ran a little event as part of my time at FROST Fumbally before the Christmas and invited the public to visit the shop and get a free portrait. I drew just under 70 portraits over a couple of days, here is a selection..with more here.
Benson Street Hoarding Illustration for Dublin City Council
If you take a walk down Benson Street in Dublin 2 you will see a very colourful little area amongst all the dust of the nearby building sites! I was commissioned by Dublin City Council to design a 55 metre long illustration on a hoarding around the building site for a new park. The drawing moves through the four seasons and is packed full of native flora and fauna, and features some local landmarks too. Here is a timelapse of me drawing one of the foxes from it (press play in the fox image), and below is a simple animation I made to show you the full thing…plus more photos here….
For this project, I did most of the drawing by hand in my notebook, then scanned it in and worked it up in Illustrator. I collaged hand coloured work with vectorised, digitally coloured elements. I collaborated with the printer to have everything perfect so they could make a series of panels to fit with the perimeter of the site, taking into account the corner elements and the slight slope. Once printed, the site contractors took care of the rest and installed it over a day. (Luckily I didn’t have to be out in the cold painting it!).
Let me know if you go see it!
Need to learn how to draw digitally? Or simply want to make the most of your hand-drawn work using Illustrator? Check out my Digital Illustration Workshop
Digital Illustration workshop in Fumbally Exchange, Dublin, book here.
April 20th/21st – booked out, April 28th/29th 2018 – booked out
Develop your digital illustration skills over one fun weekend using Illustrator in Dublin. Learn how to draw digitally and and bring your artwork to a whole new level. 11 CPD point for Architects. I am an Adobe Certified Expert with 5 years teaching experience and my classes are just great!
The two days are jam packed and very hands on but I create a very relaxed atmosphere and give lots of encouragement and one to one help. I focus on ways to incorporate hand drawn work so you can bring in your existing skills.
There is a maximum of 5 participants so everyone gets lots of attention.
April 20th/21st – booked out, April 28th/29th 2018 – booked out
Develop your digital illustration skills over one fun weekend using Illustrator in Dublin. Learn how to draw digitally and and bring your artwork to a whole new level. 11 CPD point for Architects. I am an Adobe Certified Expert with 5 years teaching experience and my classes are just great!
The two days are jam packed and very hands on but I create a very relaxed atmosphere and give lots of encouragement and one to one help. I focus on ways to incorporate hand drawn work so you can bring in your existing skills.
There is a maximum of 5 participants so everyone gets lots of attention.
Find out more here.
Locations
I’ve started a new series of paintings in Photoshop based on scenes with gorgeous locations from films. Follow along with me on Instagram and tell me what your favourite scenes are, I’m open to suggestions! :)
Scene from Bladerunner 2049
Scene from Murder on The Orient Express
Norway landscape from Downsizing
Giant Dandelion seedheads from the movie Downsizing
View full portfolio here…
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Pocket Portraits at Frost Fumbally
I had a brainwave to draw everyone who came into visit me at FROST Fumbally. A thought ran through my head...
Date :22 Jan 2018
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FROST, Christmas pop up shop at Fumbally Exchange
I was delighted to be part of a beautiful Christmas pop up shop at Fumbally Exchange (5 Dame Lane, Dublin 2). A...
Date :02 Jan 2018
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Green Door Festival 2017
I love Leitrim! I’m from Leitrim and hope to live there again some day so I love to see cool events popping...
Date :01 Oct 2017
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Culture Night 2017 at Bí Urban
Culture Night is one of my favourite nights of the year and this year I was so happy to be invited to join...
Date :22 Sep 2017
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Nature Drawing Walks for Carlow Garden Festival
Carlow Garden Festival has been running for about 15 years now and each year it’s getting bigger and better! The...
Date :22 Jul 2017
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Connemara Summer School
I had a wonderful week this July at the Connemara Summer School on Inisbofin island, off the coast of County Galway...
Date :14 Jul 2017
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Naturama Exhibition at Bí Urban, Stoneybatter, Dublin
I first met Kaethe Burt O’Dea from Bí Urban (pronounced “Bee” Urban) the night of m...
Date :14 Jul 2017
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Talk & Workshop at Body & Soul Music Festival
This year I went to Body & Soul for art, not music! I gave a talk on the Sunday about my work and how...
Date :07 Jul 2017
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Rathmines Garden Trail 2017
Rathmines is a village close to Dublin city centre, and anyone over 40 who went to college in Dublin tells me that...
Date :11 Jun 2017
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Sketch Walk Workshop at Bloom Fringe
Bloom Fringe is a festival run in parallel with Bloom In The Park and encourages biodiversity and sustainability in...
Date :03 Jun 2017
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Naturama exhibition at Íontas Arts Centre
Naturama exhibition at Íontas Arts Centre, Castleblayney, Monaghan, March 31st – May 25th 2017 I had a solo...
Date :25 May 2017
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Synesthesia – Movement Talk
I was delighted to be asked to speak at the Synesthesia talk series in the Liquor Rooms in Dublin along with Susan...
Date :16 May 2017
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Email me: melissa@goradiate.ie
Proud associate member of Fumbally Exchange, a community of design-focused small businesses, sole traders and start-ups.
Member of Visual Artists Ireland
I'm an Adobe Certified Expert in Illustrator CC
Copyright Melissa Doran / Go Radiate 2018