Washington Green, famed recently for Bob Dylan prints, have also purchased over 40 original works by our very own Bill Bate.

Bill’s stunning semi-nude compositions of underwater swimmers have been some of the best selling works in our Art Gallery for a number of years.

Richard Yates Gallery manager comments “Bill is an artist fuelled by the feel of colour and the use of dramatic light in his atmospheric work. Paint is given a life of its own, exacting an emotional response to the body in

movement, as light dapples the twist of the human form through water. An artist of rare insight.”

Jonathan Moore & Ian Weatherby-Blythe confirmed the signing at a recent launch of new works at Advocate Galleries attended by Bill, his entourage, many of his patrons and many of the good folk of Wimbledon Village.

Advocate Art have much experience launching artists into the Publishing world, past successes include Gavinder Nazeran and Rob Hefferan.

How can I get into children’s books?” is a question that is often asked by Greeting Card Artists.

The artistic limitations in designing a greeting card can frazzle some artists over a period of years. “I can’t do one more Christmas scene with out contravening my own copyright” was a quote from Sarah Pitt when she joined Advocate Art. There is no doubt that designing greeting cards is a challenge that many relish and are very successful at. But after a period, if you don’t develop either, the industry will tire of you or you of the industry.

What next? How can I get into children’s books? We have coached many artists through the process of producing a portfolio which a publisher will pick up on. Designing a card is about sentiment, synergy with the sender and recipient and trend. Designing a book folio is about almost the same things just in different ways.

“Its very exciting” comments Senior Agent Kate Johnson. “Often the characters are there already, it’s just simply a matter of bringing them to life with good characterization and then showing them following a narrative. After that, knowing which publisher is interested in that look and presenting it to them!” How did Sarah Pitt get on? She was published in 6 days and now has over 20 titles to her name.

Advocate have recently signed greeting card designers from studios such as Hotch Potch, RMS and Stewo besides others. Greeting card artists don’t have to wait for the crunch day either. Why not supply both industries? The ideas spawned in one feed the other. An artist can also reduce their output in each industry and become more special by limiting who publishes their work because they are not over published in each.

We at Advocate will be unveiling these new Children’s Artists’ folios at the forthcoming London and Bologna Book Fairs- come and see!

Our new Advocate Art “ Refresh” exhibition stand concept was unveiled at Paper World and the Spring Fair exhibitions earlier this year and will continue through the show season.

Francois Aquesbi International Sales Manager comments “We exhibit at 7 shows a year, we have long understood that for many clients the stand is how they perceive the company - it is our face to the outside world. Stick poor quality photocopies up with blue tack and what does it say about your organization?”

“The refresh theme is about refreshing your 'line' with great ideas from our artists and photographers and refresh yourself by having a meeting on padded comfortable chairs with a full refreshment menu - taking a break from the toils of walking the show.”

Going into the show season at the tail end of a recession, we at Advocate thought it was very important to be 'different' from

previous years. “There is a feeling of true optimism in the market now” says Francois. “Our clients want to be 'different' that is why they look around the show. We definitely feel 'different' here and we wanted to pass on that feeling.”

The challenge for us was to design a stand that would fit the varying sized spaces taken at each show and capable of being easily transported to the 7 venues in 4 countries. Two stands had to be manufactured due to the proximity of some events, each crate weighing in at a huge 400kg.

The results were certainly good, many new contacts were made at the Frankfurt show some even asking if we were new to the show. At the Spring Fair the appointment book was FULL for the first time in the 10 years we at Advocate Art have been exhibiting - a bigger stand will be needed next year me thinks…!

For a full list of show dates see the ‘About Us’ section.

Ana Kosir, very experienced illustrator, joins us after we were recommended by another artist in our group.

 

Bert Myers, author of the very successful coffee table book on art photography of this genre.

 

Eva Czapla, we launched her design folio at the recent Frankfurt show, and she was one of the most picked up-on greeting card artists over all!

 

Francesca Carabelli, comes to us with a very versatile children’s book illustration folio, both soft styles and digital looks.

 

Kate Daubney, she came to us waiving a publishing agreement already, a recent Falmouth graduate from studying children’s illustration.

 

Kate Leake, we wanted her when she graduated, now at last she comes in from the cold and joins the group, a superb children’s illustrator!

 

Kathy Heaser, incredibly versatile surface designer, joins us from the film industry, she will be a star in ceramics and the art print world.

 

Kim Scott, joins us from Hotch Potch publishing with a desire to crack in to children’s books, after 3 weeks she was signed, thanks to Advocate and her hard work, by a major children’s publisher.

 

Laura Di Francesco, we love boutique artists that fit into the high-end children’s book market, we love Laura.

 

Maurizio Del Angelis, incredible photo real artist that works in all the latest suite of 3d applications.

 

Ricardo Verona, joins us with a huge folio of surface designs for greetings cards and wrapping paper etc.

 

Robert Dunn, very original beautiful children’s book publishing work with a retro feel. Definitely one to watch!

 

Stijn Jacobs, we love the way he can bring vintage works to life with his flair for design and colour in the greetings card industry.

 

Tim Wesson, quirky line drawn children’s book illustration. Quick, cool and accurate.

 

James Stayte, quirky cartoon style, he is quick and versatile and able to do copy work as well.

 

Manuela Pentangelo, very strong at depicting people in a beautifully stylized way. Great for older texts and English language teaching.

 

Miguel Francisco, highly animated 5 plus children’s illustrator with a real flair for characterization.

 

Trystan Mitchell, great illustrator for boy’s texts, older and educational children’s book work.