Wall Artwork

Between 2016 and 2019, I worked as part of a team of artists to create artwork for the new RHSC & DCN hospital in Edinburgh. This is the biggest project I have worked on as an illustrator.

I produced over 50 large-scale illustrations for corridors and rooms on 4 floors of the hospital. The artwork was created through a combination of traditional and digital methods before being cut from vinyl and applied to the walls. The artwork serves as decoration, a fun distraction for patients and, through clever use of colour, also helps with wayfinding.

Live Drawing

I also hosted several live-drawing sessions. The first, at the National Museum of Scotland, allowed viewers to make live suggestions that I would add to a growing cityscape drawing over the course of the day.

The process gave me tons of ideas and gave me a feel for what connected with different audiences in Edinburgh.

Development

I developed sketches based on my research for several months. At key stages, I’d have meetings with Ginkgo (the agency facilitating all the hospital artwork projects) and NHS staff to discuss the direction of my work.

Making the artwork

I produced the final artwork using scanned drawings modified with Photoshop. I was encouraged to inject as much humour and playfulness as possible into my illustrations.

The artwork often uses its surrounding in interesting and unexpected ways.

Artwork on Walls

The final artwork is large scale, cohesive and fun. It is extremely satisfying to see the end results after such a long journey.

Based on feedback from staff, I was selected to produce further artwork for the Radiology department. This project expanded on previous work by adding more colours and by becoming more interactive.

I produced illustrations for specific pieces of hospital equipment and created animations to be projected on walls while patients received treatment.

As all of my artwork existed digitally, we were also able to produce merchandise, activity books and gifts based on my designs. These physical products ended up being some of my favourite parts of the whole project.