Laura Dawes
I’m a freelance artist living in Ilkley. I’ve been a video game artist since 2005, creating 3D environments and props for games including Oddworld: New Tasty, Sniper Elite V2 and Aliens vs Predator.
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Moving to Ilkley and being surrounded by beautiful landscapes reinvigorated my desire to paint. My dog Holly is another big influence on my personal artwork, I find her fascinating to study and the places I walk with her inspire many paintings. I’m keen on working en plein air and urban sketching, but I’m also comfortable working at home from my photographs, often a necessary practicality when I spot a great view while out dog walking.
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My favourite traditional media are watercolour, gouache and ink. I also paint digitally using the software Photoshop and a graphics tablet and stylus. The approach I take to painting on the computer is the same as my approach with traditional opaque paint, sketching, blocking in large shapes then refining, paying special attention to value structure.
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LEARN MORE ABOUT ILKLEY ARTS
Ilkley Arts mission is to promote and celebrate the arts in Ilkley and surrounding areas to enrich the lives of residents and visitors and to support and help the development of our exhibiting artists.
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Ilkley Arts works with a wide range of organisations to achieve this mission from those whose focus is on developing young artists such as Art School Ilkley and Nell Bank Outdoor Education Centre as well as partnerships with Ilkley Manor House, Outside the Box, Ilkley Literature Festival and the Ilkley Playhouse.