Hannah Downing - BA (Hons) Illustration with Animation
I am a multidisciplinary artist based in London and Manchester whose practice combines illustration, animation, and printmaking. I tend to draw inspiration from visualising my ideas in full, refining the final outcome organically, and embracing unpredictability. Ultimately, my work centres around humour — I enjoy making witty, satirical pieces that are engaging and thought-provoking.
For my Authorship submission, I made multiple outcomes, the most ambitious being my MAGA Zine, a documentation of the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency. Drawing on current events and my keen interest in politics, this project displays my love for illustrative satire and intelligent creative decisions using visual humour to end up with a well-thought-out and consistently designed outcome.
My misheard lyric posters were inspired by an earlier project on pub nights out, whereby I made a series of lino prints on funny things I heard in the pub. I combined this concept with my love for music to make bizarre visual scenes based on misheard song lyrics. This project was to show how my work extends from meaningful pieces of visual humour, such as my MAGA Zine, to light-hearted, funny pieces on mundane events like singing the wrong lyrics. These projects have enhanced my conceptual development as well as my technical skills as an illustrator and printmaker.
