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Liam O'Farrell

Liam O'Farrell

Liam O'Farrell - Architectural & Lifestyle illustrator. UK

An outstanding talent with ink and watercolors, Liam O’Farrell has a traditional painterly style that is ideal for books, newspapers, magazines, annual reports and more. Architectural and lifestyle illustration are areas he specializes in, but full bleed or spot illustration, he can hit the right tone for just about any brief.
Now based in Somerset, Liam decided he’d become an artist when he was 10 and every decision thereafter has pointed to that goal. Taking an HND in Technical Illustration at Portsmouth Art College, he moved to London, working in design and illustration and rising to the top of his game. His favorite artists include Spencer, Lowry and Wallis.

Approach

After a discussion with the client Liam will deliver a detailed drawing to make sure there’s no confusion about what he’ll be creating. He’ll then use inks and watercolors to render the image, with postproduction work done in Photoshop – adding or boosting colors. That said, his work never looks Photoshopped.

Style

People tend to recognize Liam’s old school illustration style straight away. It’s not cartoony, and it’s not serious, with architectural and character elements to it as required. Often he lets his painting sit on a stark white surround for a great deal of impact, making the addition of typography a breeze for art directors.

Client list

Some of Liam’s clients include Tatler, Knight Frank LLP, The Times, Liberty London, Perspectives in Architecture, BBC Books, Macmillan, The Big Issue, One Housing Group and Meed.
Liam O'Farrell
Liam O'Farrell
Sipsmith Gin & Tonic advertisement
Liam O'Farrell
Liam O'Farrell
A group of cold water fish
Liam O'Farrell
A group of tropical fish
Liam O'Farrell
Travel map painting by Liam O'Farrell
Liam O'Farrell
Illustration of skyline of Dubai
Liam O'Farrell
Watercolor painting of vegetables for Rowdy Studios
Liam O'Farrell
Liam O'Farrell
A watercolor painting of The Ship Anson pub in Portsmouth
Liam O'Farrell
Illustration of a rural home with a lake
Liam O'Farrell
Map illustration of the Holy Land
Liam O'Farrell
A watercolor showing a 4th of July Parade for American Greetings
Liam O'Farrell
Woodbridge prep school map painting
Liam O'Farrell
Aerial view of Woodbridge Main School
Liam O'Farrell
A painting of the Royal Exchange in London
Liam O'Farrell
Illustrated street map for Language book company
Liam O'Farrell
Painting in watercolour of Eilean Donan Castle
Liam O'Farrell
About a hospital kitchen chef editorial illustration
Liam O'Farrell
A Saddleback pig drawn in watercolor
Liam O'Farrell
The illustration in line and watercolor of wild animals
Liam O'Farrell
MSKCC commissioned Liam O'Farrell to create science laboratory
Liam O'Farrell
Line, watercolour, Animals, Wildlife, Countryside
Liam O'Farrell
Rabbits, animals, pets,
Liam O'Farrell
Trains, Travel, Cutaway, luxury, train, Holiday, Hotel
Liam O'Farrell
BBC CountryFile Magazine How to fly a kite
Liam O'Farrell
digger, jcb, construction, building
Liam O'Farrell
tractor, cows, farming, landscape
Liam O'Farrell
Architecture, London, Trains, Cityscape
Liam O'Farrell
A pub in Valletta Malta.
Liam O'Farrell
A street in Valletta Malta
Liam O'Farrell
Illustration of the siemens crystal
Liam O'Farrell
Illustration of Garlic
Liam O'Farrell
Illustration of aparagus
Liam O'Farrell
Illustration of Sardines
Liam O'Farrell
After seeing some of Liam’s unique work on previous schemes, we approached him with an enquiry to draw up a street scene for a development project in the Surrey area for 100 dwellings. Liam quickly engrossed himself in our requests and conceptualised our requirements with some initial line sketch drawings, suggesting and collating ideas which we ourselves had not considered. We were extremely happy with the finished painting, and although our brief changed several times during the project, he was happy to make any changes we requested. We look forward to working with him again.
Oliver Trendle, Woodside Park Commercial Centre
Working with Liam was so easy; he understood our brief perfectly, turned it around really quickly, got it spot on first time round and created exactly what we hoped for!
Halley Anne Kennedy: Lead Designer, Rowdy Studio
Liam's sophisticated watercolor style intricately balances organic whimsy with realism. The vibrant work he created was just what we had envisioned for Growing Mushrooms for Beginners. Liam was a delight to work with – detail-oriented, communicative, receptive, and prompt. Our team is thrilled with the end product and looks forward to sharing it with the world of home gardening.
Monica Cheng, Art Director , Callisto Media Inc
It was really nice working with Liam. He responded really well to art direction. It is good to work with an artist who is flexible especially within a customer title and its limitations. Liam really captured the essence and character of the creature. We would commission him again.
Claire Majury - Designer, John Brown Media - UK
We are extremely pleased to be working with Liam and have found his work to be to a high standard. It’s not easy turning around quality artwork to our deadlines, but Liam does. Sometimes, as our stories develop, we need our artists to make changes to their artwork and Liam is happy to do this. We love the cover Liam put together on our Dubai Airports supplement, which illustrates his attention to detail
Martin Staniszewski, Meed - UK
Working with Liam was a great experience. He understood our project completely, was highly creative, delivered top quality work on time and was very communicative. Without hesitation, we would use him again for another project.
Kristin Glick: Associate Art Director, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Liam O’Farrell’s illustration on our recent Coach promotion really evoked the New York landscape. His beautiful depiction of the landmark street scenes and buildings, both old and new were the perfect backdrop to showcase Coach's new handbag collection within this Tatler Promotion.
Samantha Brownstein - Art Director, Promotions, Tatler Magazine - UK
At at short notice, we gave Liam a rather vague brief and tight deadline. Without delay he threw himself into producing two exquisite images that went far beyond perfectly interpreting our instructions by further developing the ideas and themes we were trying to create. Everyone who have since seen the paintings are both charmed and instantly able to understand the spirit of the places we are creating. Above all, Liam is a pleasure to work with and always gracious, even when we here are at our fussiest and most indecisive!
Luke Bennett: Chief Architect RIBA, ARCHITEKTON
Liam’s first draft, which he turned around impressively quickly, pretty much nailed the concept we were looking for straight away. Our suggested tweaks were acted upon equally speedily with the minimum of fuss until we were 100% happy.
Andrew Shirley - Head of Rural Research & Wealth Report Editor, Knight Frank LLP - London
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