Lydia Thornley
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Lydia Thornley

Month: May 2024

My studio Snack experiment on making a coffee and cake emoji: two AI-generated emojis made from half coffee cup, half cake, a tiny painting of coffee and Eccles cake and AI's flight of fancy when I asked it to generate an image of an Eccles cake
Illustration Life | Podcasts | Process

Baffling AI with an Eccles cake

31st May, 2024 by Lydia Thornley

Post text. The latest Studio Snack, a five minute food podcast about design, started with a suggestion from collaborator Narcis Sauleda that we plan our next episode over coffee and cake. Fika. Kaffee und Kuchen. Kettle on and a snack for elevenses. In my head, they’re one thing. But to … Read More

Detail of watercolour note on the colours I've used to draw a leaf, and the four colour studies on show at the Yurt Café exhibition
Behind the scenes | Illustration Life | Knowledge and skills

Complicated colour

22nd May, 2024 by Lydia Thornley

“It’s very green”, commented perfumer Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays of my selection for a taster set. Visiting to collect, I dropped off a copy of my Water, Colour zine of live garden illustrations. The result was a fascinating conversation about how green straight from the tube never quite tells … Read More

Behind the scenes | Design Life | Illustration Life | Knowledge and skills

Where the studio is

10th May, 2024 by Lydia Thornley

“Where is your studio?” That used to be an easy question to answer. I did one thing – graphic design – and I worked from one place, desk space in a shared studio. But my work is broader now. I use what I know as well as what I do. … Read More

Recent posts

  • Montage of Lydia at the Tower Gallery opening and art pieces at both exhibitions
    Two pictures, two openings, two ideas6th March, 2026
  • Montage of slides showing timeline of Lydia's practice, a detail of Lydia at a live sketching session and a map of geographical opportunities
    The shape of creative practice3rd March, 2026
  • Montage of title slide, Lydia speaking and a tiny notebook on which a linocut hand points round a corner
    Turning up, nerding out and pointing round corners2nd March, 2026
  • Exterior of Memorial Community Church and view towards the Royal Docks from the studio window
    Two views16th February, 2026
  • Montage of a sketch of a dog looking both ways, the exterior of St Bride Foundation and a drawer of type with the label 'hands' on the front and a pointing hand
    Seeing the point6th February, 2026
  • Montage of pictures: Lydia playing with reflections on the train, sketch of La Piscine in situ, section of exterior cropping the name to 'see'
    Creative adventuring19th January, 2026
  • Montage of pictures: Workshop resource sheets, Cody Dock wildlife illustration, Lydia at the Alice Billing House workshop, sketch from the Give Your Best fashion show
    The value in the intersections2nd January, 2026
  • Montage of project images: perfume boxes, textile prints made from Studio Snack podcast episode images, lithograph for 26 Bridges and cover detail from Bowen Craggs report
    Creativity from the thinking end30th December, 2025
  • Montage of sketchbook pages drawn at the British Museum and on a journey and a screenshot of the article on the 26 website
    Practice, process and past16th December, 2025
  • Montage of pictures: podcast collaborators Lydia and narcis reflected in a Christmas bauble, shadow selfie, the Gantry co-working space and the bench where the project began
    A four-year conversation5th December, 2025

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