It’s taken a while to fix up, but I’m moving! Please update your bookmarks, because from today you’ll find me just around the corner at www.madiganillustration.com. This site will still be available for another couple of weeks, but after that I’ll be taking it down, so come and visit me in my new online home for tea and biscuits and lots of illustration! xx
Hello! I'm Kate Madigan, a freelance illustrator. I live, work and blog in Oxford. Check out my work, get in touch if you'd like to hire me, or keep scrolling for my latest news. More...
News and blog
Books, books, and more books
Thursday 23rd February, 2012
What could be better than having your work hanging in your favourite department of your favourite bookshop? I originally drew this piece for the show I did at Blackwell’s last September, and to my utter glee and delight, the management liked it so much they commissioned a much, much larger version (the original was tiny, but this one is over 80cm tall), with a few changes to better reflect Oxford’s contribution to children’s literature. The commission has been in the pipeline for a while now but, being superstitious, I didn’t want to say anything until it was signed off, sealed and delivered. I’m not sure when the picture will be going up, but Blackwell’s have promised to keep me posted, so watch this space!
Illustrated Advent Calendar at The Jam Factory – update
Monday 9th January, 2012
Happy New Year, and great news regarding the Illustrated Advent Calendar charity auction at The Jam Factory! In total £527 was raised to help Age UK Oxfordshire, with my reindeer picture bringing in £65. I was thrilled to be involved with such a great cause – thanks for asking me, Jam Factory!
Illustrated Advent Calendar at The Jam Factory
Tuesday 6th December, 2011
Click to enlarge
Calling all Oxford-based people! Please pop down to The Jam Factory on Park End Street and check out their Illustrated Advent Calendar, an exhibition running throughout December in aid of Age UK Oxfordshire. Twenty-four artists and illustrators were asked to create appropriately Christmassy pictures, and the results are being sold off in a silent auction. I was massively honoured to be asked to take part; my reindeer print (above) will be on display alongside all the other artwork until January 3rd.
Book cover: What There Is Instead of Rainbows
Tuesday 6th December, 2011
Click to view full cover
I had a really cool project to work on last month – the cover for writer Dan Holloway’s new novel, What There Is Instead of Rainbows.
Dan got in touch with me after seeing my work on show in Blackwell’s in September. He’s an incredibly versatile author, and he was looking for a new style of cover to suit his new book. He’s also a well-known figure on the Oxford literary scene: he runs the arts website eight cuts gallery, regularly performs in spoken word events all over the country, and has already self-published a number of previous books. The latest of these, The Company of Fellows, became a Kindle bestseller within a couple of months of its publication in electronic format, and also made it to first place in an online poll of favourite Oxford-based novels carried out by Blackwell’s Bookshop. So, no pressure there!
Dan was brilliant to work with. He had a clear idea of what he wanted, but was open to new ideas at the same time. The brief evolved quite a bit during discussions, but the core elements of a girl with a violin in a graveyard remained constant.
What There Is Instead of Rainbows will be published in the New Year. I’ve read the opening chapter, and I can’t wait to find out what happens next. Watch this space for more publication info as it becomes available!