Wins and Lessons of 2023

Illustration, Small BusinessDeborah PanesarJanuary 10, 20242023 roundup, illustration, graphic design, london map, london landmark illustrations, glass and wick, penhaligons, studio xag, thyroid superhero, hypothyroidism, children's book illustration Comments

Shop Update

Submission for Castle Rock Brewery x Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

To celebrate 20 years of friendship, Castle Rock Brewery launched a competition to design the can and keg labels for their collaboration beer with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

Illustration, NottinghamDeborah PanesarApril 15, 2022illustration, packaging design, beer can label, castle rock brewery, into the wild, nottinghamshire wildlife trust, wildlife illustration, celestial, fox, deer, ferns, woodlands, nottingham, freelance illustratorComment

Valentines Day 2022

Illustration, Etsy, New ProductsDeborah PanesarJanuary 25, 2022Valentine's Day, Valentines Day Card, greetings cards, illustration, illustrated cards, greeting card design, recycled cards, eco friendly, eco friendly cards, stevie wonder, signed sealed delivered i'm yoursComment

Mental Health as an Illustrator and Mother // Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week

Freelancing and motherhood. What a rollercoaster it has been so far.

I often have people say to me, “I don’t know how you do it, working from home with a toddler!” or “you must be so disciplined to get any work done at home, I’d be so distracted”. And yes, a lot of that is true and is also extremely flattering.

The thing is, I am a complete imposter, because you see the problem is I am not nailing it one bit. One human being (or should I say woman because let’s face it, this isn’t necessarily an issue for all working men…) cannot be 100% full time working and 100% full time mum.

Mental Health, Work/Life BalanceDeborah PanesarMay 10, 2020maternal mental health awareness week, perinatal mental health, freelance, freelance illustrator, illustration, mental health awareness, mental healthComment

Hello 2020! A little look back at 2019 (PART II)

Carrying on from Part I, I’m sharing all the things that brought me joy, and made me proud in 2019, from July through to December.

Illustration, Etsy, Nottingham, Work/Life BalanceDeborah PanesarJanuary 10, 2020illustration, year in review, new year, home renovations, house of illustration, the alphabet children, lola's apothecary, surface designComment

Hello 2020! A little look back at 2019 (PART I)

A very happy (and belated) New Year to all of you!

There’s nothing like a new year, let alone a brand new decade, to bring out the sentimentality in people. It’s been both interesting and a little depressing watching through everyone’s round up’s of 2019 via Instagram (I get it, you guys got to have a lot of holidays whilst we never made it out of the UK!) but I thought it would still be nice to share what a wonderful year it was - minus holidays - both work and in personal life, to maybe help myself not have so much FOMO.

Illustration, Work/Life BalanceDeborah PanesarJanuary 10, 20202019 round up, illustration, home and decor, home renovations, year in review, freelance illustratorComment

New in the Shop!

Well, it’s been a minute hasn’t it?

Summer came and went so quickly as I had some really lovely commissions to work on (that I can’t quite talk about right now) but in between all my secret client work I was busy beavering away on some new products.

Illustration, Small BusinessDeborah PanesarOctober 7, 2019christmas cards, new designs, illustration, wall hanging, wall art, celestial moon phases, a3 print, sustainable stationery, eco christmas cardsComment

House of Illustration Summer Fair Round Up

What an honour it was to have been invited back again to the House of Illustration summer fair the other week!

I’ve been a bit behind in getting this post written up due to some lovely client work I’ve been beavering away on, but still wanted to share some of my favourite illustrators from the fair who I had the pleasure of meeting.

Events, IllustrationDeborah PanesarAugust 1, 2019house of illustration, summer fair, london, Granary Square, kings cross, Aleesha Nandhra, Miss Ella Goodwin, Aurore Swithenbank, illustration, illustration market, freelance illustration, creative market, creative business, craft fairComment

House of Illustration Summer Fair

SUPER excited to announce that I have got in (again!) to the House of Illustration Summer Fair!

EventsDeborah PanesarJune 26, 2019house of illustration, summer fair, illustration, freelance illustrator, London, Granary Square, illustration marketComment

Hawaaian Shirts From a Small Danish Island

One of the main reasons I love being a freelance illustrator is that I literally never know what I’m going to find in my inbox. I get a lot of requests, some bizarre, and some curious, and some just plain amazing. This project was definitely the latter.

IllustrationDeborah PanesarOctober 2, 2018illustration, surface pattern design, surface design, print for fashion, bornholm shirts, goda skjorter, botanical illustration, pencil illustrationComment

MediCity Mural

More and more often I'm getting asked to paint murals for many different building for many purposes; signage, decorative display and statement wall pieces. However my latest wall mural piece is by far the biggest to add to my repertoire.

Measuring 6 metres wide by 3 metres high, this mural of a lush green British landscape has found a new home at the Grade 1 listed MediCity building in Nottingham.

Wall Art, Nottingham, IllustrationDeborah PanesarJune 4, 2018mural artist, interior design, biocity nottingham, nottingham, wall art, nottingham illustrator, not, mural art, murals, illustrationComment

Handmade Fair Giveaway

It's just over a month to go till the Handmade Fair at Ragley Hall, and whilst I still have lots (if not all) prep to do, I'm really excited to share a super giveaway with you!

GiveawaysDeborah PanesarApril 1, 2018giveaway, handmade fair, kirsty allsopp, illustration, craft fairs, creativityComment

Choosing the path less Notonthehighstreet

If you have been following me on Instagram recently, you may have seen my frustrated InstaStories detailing some strange and rather unacceptable behaviour from that well known online selling platform: Notonthehighstreet.

Small BusinessDeborah PanesarMarch 26, 2018notonthehighstreet.com, small business advice, etsy, designer maker, nottingham illustrator, deborah panesar, illustrationComment

National Treasures Food Map Illustration

Grab yourself a copy of this month's Asda's Good Living magazine and you'll be able to see one of my illustrations as a double page spread!

IllustrationDeborah PanesarMarch 3, 2017illustration, nottingham designer, nottingham illustrator, freelance illustrator, food map, asda, good living magazine, hearst publishing, editorial illustrationComment

Cats in Wonderland

It's finally happened - I contributed to my first ever colouring book! And what better business to create artwork for than for Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium - London's top cat cafe where each of their cats have their own profile on the website that perfectly describes each of their unique personalities.

IllustrationDeborah PanesarDecember 22, 2016lady dinah's cat emporium, cat cafe, colouring book, adult colouring book, illustrationComment

Illustrators for Mental Health

It's World Mental Health Day, and in celebration of a cause that's quite close to my heart I wanted to share something that combines two aspects of my life; illustration and mental health.

Here are some of my favourite illustrators bringing to life how it feels some days to live with a mental health illness:

Mental Health, Illustration, InspirationDeborah PanesarOctober 10, 2016world mental health day, mental health, mental health awareness, gemma correll, siobhan gallagher, emily coxhead, marissa betley, maria sanoja, illustration Comments

Deborah Panesar Textiles shop is now here!

I am SO excited to FINALLY reveal my brand new online store: Deborah Panesar Textiles!

Etsy, MakesDeborah PanesarAugust 22, 2016surface design, accessory design, etsy uk, etsy, Nottingham Etsy Team, handmade, illustrator, illustration, surface pattern designComment

Thought Catalogue & Brianna Wiest

It's been a busy old time in the studio working on lots of top secret projects, however I'm really excited to share with you some new work which I have created for Brianna Wiest's book, The Truth About Everything.

I was commissioned to create the new cover for the books re-release, published through Thought Catalogue.

IllustrationDeborah PanesarJune 22, 2016brianna wiest, the truth about everything, thought catalogue, book cover illustration, illustrationComment

Draw it, Print it, Ink it Publication

It's been pretty exciting here in the studio this weekend as I received my own copy of Draw it, Print it, Ink it by Pepper Baldwin, a new temporary tattoo book which features one of my custom temporary tattoo illustrations!

When I opened my Etsy shop back in 2010, temporary tattoos were one of my first initial products to hit the shelves, and you guys have been loving them ever since! Whilst launching and running my own lines, I have worked on a few temporary tattoo designs for other companies such as Pepper Ink, run by Pepper Baldwin, one of which you can now see in her latest publication!

IllustrationDeborah PanesarApril 10, 2016pepper ink, temporary tattoo design, tattoo design, pepper baldwin, illustration, draw it print it ink it, octopus booksComment

Blog

Well, it’s been a minute hasn’t it?

What an honour it was to have been invited back again to the House of Illustration summer fair the other week!

It's World Mental Health Day, and in celebration of a cause that's quite close to my heart I wanted to share something that combines two aspects of my life; illustration and mental health.

I am SO excited to FINALLY reveal my brand new online store: Deborah Panesar Textiles!

It's been pretty exciting here in the studio this weekend as I received my own copy of Draw it, Print it, Ink it by Pepper Baldwin, a new temporary tattoo book which features one of my custom temporary tattoo illustrations!