Becky Glendining's detailed illustrations of interiors and the spaces we create for ourselves

"When drawing interiors, I’m inspired by my own surroundings, the way things are placed, the clutter. I look at photos of lived in spaces and try to imagine the person or people who might live there, or I start in the reverse, looking at and being inspired by a person and then trying to create a place they could live in," she adds.

"I’m also inspired by nature, plants especially. I’m inspired by how they grow, the formations they make, how they fall or cluster together. It doesn’t always show directly in my work but it’s definitely there in my thought/creative process."

A relatively recent graduate of 2017, she's been working on her Masters ever since while carrying out a little freelance work. Her clients already include HSBC and Penguin Random House, despite the usual business challenges.

"Knowing when to work and when your body needs a break, when to push yourself and when to take a step back – it’s a constant learning curve. It’s something I often get wrong. You need to reach deadlines, but you have to make sure you take care of yourself too.

"Also, with coming straight out of university which has a strong structure and constant feedback from lecturers and peers, it’s difficult to suddenly be alone and have to flounder your way through freelancing haha. Being your own critic, the loneliness, it’s hard.

"But on the flipside, it’s been amazing being my own boss and getting to work on interesting projects. I don’t think I would have been able to work on such a variety of projects if I worked with an agency or something; from comics, to book covers to concept art, it’s been wonderful."

One particular project that caught our eye was Becky's Tiny Spaces series where she focuses on interiors only. "I usually start with trying to imagine the kind of person I want to design for. I make a list of their traits, what they like doing, are they neat or messy? Cosy? And then go from there.

"I’ll try and find some references of furniture items or complete rooms/homes that fit the theme of this fictional person as inspiration and to see what kind of items might be included, keeping in mind the size of the space. I’ll often also look at existing tiny homes and see how they manage storage in such a small space, which helps a lot with building up the room.

"Once I’ve got the basic idea of the space, I’ll get into sketching out the area in blocks and seeing where things can fit. Trying to make it seem as lived in as possible, with items in ‘wrong’ places or haphazardly placed, before refining the sketch into the final line art.

"I usually play around with items and add more in if needed, always looking at the reference to try and capture the right theme (and to just double check what items look like). From there I add a flat background and the light sources which helps bring the space to life, before colouring it with colours I feel reflect the space and the person who might live there!"

Find out more about Becky via lgions.com.