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Tania Willis

@tania.willis

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📍Northumberland UK / Hong Kong
Illustrator. Mapmaker. Educator
1/3 of @thegoodshipillustration
http://taniawillis.com.

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I’ve started a new larger Mapcard range for HK … beginning with Central. Wanchai is in there too. Where should I map next?
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Wholesale enquiries welcome – apply via website contact

#hongkongmap #hongkongstationery #greetingscards #mapcard by @tania.willis

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9 months ago

Apologies for plastering this all over social media, but I’m so excited to finally have some photos that I like. I knew I should get some done for my website and I was resisting, but the amazing Sarah Jamieson @pictorial.photography prized my fingers off the doorframe and performed a miracle. Thank you Sarah taken in Berwick-upon-Tweed by @tania.willis

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2 years ago

With all the tram pics I’ve been posting, I couldn’t resist adding this #airbus #dragonair livery on an A330-300 from a few years back. Just wanted to see how they might look together. As an illustrator, I never expected to have the opportunity to for my work to be used on planes, buses ( I’ll post that one later) & trams, but HK presented me some wonderful opportunities. Thanks for the commission & faith placed in me by the great team at @orijen_design @pixbybella. Now if only Star Ferry would call so I could complete a Hong Kong livery hat trick.... #latergram @idiscoverapp #starferry #speciallivery #airliners #B-HWG #hongkongillustrator #liverydesign #paintedplanes #china #hongkong #hongkongdesign by @tania.willis

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8 years ago

Another detail from the Berwick Portraits. ‘Riding of the Bounds’. A centuries-old Spring tradition marking the ancient boundaries between England and Scotland.
For @berwickbarracks Museum @englishheritage

These illustrations will be separated into a three parts ( foreground, figure and backgroun) and printed on transparent Perspex and mounted in a lit box in the museum display wall.

The foreground needed that crow taken in Berwick-upon-Tweed by @tania.willis

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4 days ago

A dog’s life is better than a maid’s. Another study detail from a series of historical portraits for @berwickbarracks for @englishheritage taken in Berwick-upon-Tweed by @tania.willis

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10 days ago

My friend and fellow creative @mtantau of @windowsillchats invited me to take a perch on her much-loved podcast. She’s so good to talk to that I relaxed enough to share some creative insecurities, thoughts about late-stage careers and the challenges of change .... And lots about the business of illustration ( and inevitably AI). Margo is The Good Ship Illustration’s ‘Licensing Whisperer ‘ and gives a masterclass in how and where to license your work on our Business Club. If you’re interested in finding out more about the course, head over to @thegoodshipillustration to read about it. It’s open for sign up for 2 more days and the doors to the business club close on Friday, 8pm, 9th Oct, UK time . by @tania.willis

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11 days ago

Come and see what in-real-life art club and life drawing was like.

This weekend we joined in for @berwickopenstudios,and @pithsupply kindly let us use this gorgeous studio space. LOOOOK at it 😍 🤤

Thank you to everyone who came along! Thank you to Celia our brilliant life model! Thank you thank you!

We did have grand plans of writing everyone’s IG handles down and tagging everyone but Katie lost the piece of paper so please do tag yourself if you see yourself in a photo. (Photos by all of us, but the good ones were taken by @gerry.turley) taken in Spittal, Northumberland by @tania.willis

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13 days ago

The view from our room. Ischia @tavernajanto
.Trying to make things AI can’t #walktoseeprepare by @tania.willis

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a month ago

Most of my Summer was spent working on a series of historical portraits of people who lived in the walled town of Berwick upon Tweed in the late C16th- a time of great upheaval. The Ramparts ( Walls ) were being built, a garrison was installed to keep the town safe from Scottish invaders.  The portraits will be displayed, separated and printed onto into 3 transparent plates in diorama-type box in the new Berwick Barracks Museum.  It'll be a be a while until they're installed, so I thought I'd share ome details and process. Funnily enough it's the details I liked more.  I've been trying to develop my voice and not be afraid of change or inconsistency, so this work looks a little different from my usual illustrations. Historical content always seems to change my approach too- so it was the perfect project to explore texture, depth and atmospheric lighting. First up is a small King Charles Spaniel- he's the pet of a James Rugg- a Berwick merchant. I loved drawing these dogs and might work on a series of dog portraits to join the spaniel. Very tempted to start with that naughty Jack Russel in my sketches
#spaniel #pawtrait #dogillustration taken in Berwick-upon-Tweed by @tania.willis

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a month ago

I was very grateful to be the subject of ‘The Illustrator’s Interview’ in the quarterly journal ‘Illustration’. The article focussed on my illustrated maps, but along the way the questions had me thinking about where my colour sense came from, the artists and designers who shaped me, why there’s no line in my work, and my long love affair with printmaking, painting and graphic design. It was a reflective and nostalgic experience.

An unexpected bonus came on publication: I found myself alongside two British artists I’ve admired for decaded: the humourist Graham Clarke and printmaker Robert Tavener. In the 1980s, British Rail commissioned Tavener to create artworks that were printed on the creamy enamelled interiors of their carriages (you might remember them?). I’d spend the long train journeys of my art student years admiring his three-colour screen prints of the British landscape, trying to figure out how his limited palette worked. Forty years on, to find myself in the same pages feels like an extraordinary full-circle moment.
Many thanks to @illustration.magazine and Dr Simon Cooke for inviting me — a real career milestone.

🔗 in Linktree bio taken in Berwick-upon-Tweed by @tania.willis

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3 months ago

I’ve just been invited to apply for an all expenses paid Summer Residency in Tblisi, Georgia!! All expenses? It’s all to good to be true and there’s the red flag. It’s a scam but an incredibly convincing one (see the aspirational AI footage on summer-residency.co ). What’s the grift you may ask? A reasonable $25 application fee. Seems fair and doesn’t arouse suspicion. But with a following of 2m, $25 can really add up.

They did it last year too with French Chateau residency as bait. That’s when I fell for it and applied ( which is why they’ve come back for more $$ from me this year). You can’t find anyone who attended 2025, if you can their insta comments are disabled.
It’s all wrapped up in some very incredibly convincing branding, pure cat nip for artists and designers. Word is some investigative journos are onto it…. It’s either incompetence- like the Fyre Festival- or intentionally a scam.
There are so many of these scams right now in the art and design world, we really need to be on or guard.
That’s why this week’s podcast on The Good Ship Illustration is all about how to spot a scam.
You can find the link on @thegoodshipillustration by @tania.willis

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4 months ago

by @tania.willis

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5 months ago