LONDON ARTIST & FASHION ILLUSTRATOR
I'm an experienced educator with a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, Qualified Teacher Status (acquired in 2016), and 10+ years experience teaching and facilitating workshops in schools, further and higher education, alongside community spaces. I currently teach at Royal College of Art, the world's number 1 university for Art and Design, and host sell out fashion illustration workshops in London and Manchester.
Drawing together creates connection. It dissolves barriers of class, taste, and expertise. It becomes a social equaliser, a way of saying: you can be here, you are accepted here and your marks matter. I believe fashion illustration workshops are not just educational tools, they’re social spaces. They challenge the heirarchy of who gets to participate in fashion, who gets to be seen, and who gets to make images.
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Schools and Colleges Day Fashion Drawing Workshop 2025 cohosted with Joanna Layla. Photograph Courtesy of Graduate Fashion Foundation, Photography by Lowri Cooper.
My workshops challenge traditional methods and stereotypical fashion illustration aesthetics. Instead they focus on engaging our bodies with the process of drawing through movement and speed, to energise participants and give them a sense of creative freedom. The aim is to make drawing accessible, remove perfection, and find confidence in your own method and style of drawing.
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Whether the workshop sits in education, at neighbourhood coffee shop or a iconic wine bar, my workshops are made to fit any space, and are suitable for all learners.
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My workshops follow a set structure, but it can be easily adapted to suit your needs.
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Event workshops - 2 hours
Educational workshops - 1 day (5 hours)
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In my workshops, students explore mark-making, pattern, figures, faces, fashion illustration, and large-scale collage.
I am based in London therefore I will need to be able to travel to your location.
I will bring repurposed collage and drawing materials, though additional supplies from your organisation such as A4, A3, and large paper rolls are needed to ensure full access.
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Throughout the workshop, I provide feedback and allow time for student questions. Photography and videos are encouraged.
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To arrange, send me an email with your desired date.
"Elyse’s teaching style is creative and hands-on and underpinned with theory. The students responded well to her teaching and produced some amazing work which they used to develop their own design handwriting"
Senior Lecturer of BA Fashion Design, Manchester Fashion Institute
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Join me for a day of creativity, inspiration, and self-expression. Whether you're a beginner or looking to refine your skills, my workshops are the perfect opportunity to explore the art of fashion illustration.
2 images - Participant work at Department Coffee Manchester 2026
Student work at Colfe's School workshop 2026
Partipant work at Department Coffee Manchester 2026
2 images - Participant work at amie wine studio London 2026
Fashion Image Making with Collage -
Thinking Sustainable Fashion
Through my MA research at Royal College of Art, I explored how fashion illustration could be used as a social tool to engage with sustainability. As part of my workshops, I developed a section where we used unwanted artworks and drawings, symbolic of excess waste, to create new fashion images.
The idea is for participants to take responsibility for the materials they use to create, and consider using existing materials instead of new. Participants are encouraged to find value in 'scraps' - whether it's a gorgeous mark, a vibrant colour or interesting shape. With these, participants explore scale through small sculptures and large scale image making. ​
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This part of the workshop also allows participants to explore layering, shape, texture, and unconventional aesethics.
I will bring a collection of papers - old artworks, discarded participant sketches etc - to use as materials for the collage. ​Any repurposed materials from new participants is encouraged.
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The collage element of a one day workshop (5 hours) usually takes place in the last 2 hours of the day. ​Wall space is required to create large scale fashion images,
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“...a hugely successful day for students, who thoroughly engaged with the workshop, immersing themselves in it completely.
They built on their drawing and observation skills as well as 3-D textural awareness. Feedback from all of them was overwhelmingly positive, and they were totally inspired by it.
A huge thank you to Elyse for an absolutely sensational day.”
- Colfe's School 2024
All three images: Participant work from Manchester Metropolitan University
I teamed up with Traid Shepherd's Bush to host a fashion illustration workshop that celebrates second-hand clothing using materials sourced from the Traid warehouse.
Fashion Collaging at Traid 2025
Community Projects
London Borough of Culture 2025: In partnership with Wandsworth Council, the RCA commissioned alumna Elyse Blackshaw to create original artworks exploring the theme of creative health. The resulting works were displayed on public banners outside Wandsworth Town Hall during Wandsworth Arts Fringe and the previous summer. The project engaged 378 pupils across years 3–6, reaching 15 classes from 10 schools.
In February 2026, in the British Library commissioned Elyse Blackshaw to create an collage workshop exploring alternative fairytale characters. Elyse designed and illustrated and extensive collage pack and facilitated a family drop in workshop at the British Library to celebrate the opening of the Fairy Tales exhibition. This project was comissioned by the Living Knowledge Network to give access to libraries across the UK to use the collage pack.
“Elyse’s talent and creativity really came through in her work on the mural for Banbury BID. Her ability to bring the community’s creations together and create a beautiful piece of art that is now admired by all is fantastic. I highly recommend Elyse for any artistic project, her passion and dedication always exceed expectation."
Banbury BID Strategist
In 2024, in Banbury Improvement District in partnership with Chiltern Railway commissioned Elyse Blackshaw to create a series of workshops where participants could collage and create illustrations inspired by people and places in Banbury. The participant artwork was digitally recreated to form mural scenes to improve the walkway of of a unused car site.
In partnership with Wandsworth Council 2024, Elyse Blackshaw was commissioned to facilitate a series of workshops to create artwork for local libraries for the Wandsworth Arts Fringe. The workshops, titled "Fashion Wandsworth" introduced primary schools across Wandsworth to fashion illustration techniques. Children learnt how clothing can be used as a social tool to project important messages into the world. They designed their own clothing with colours that represented their identity, and slogans that gave messages to Wandsworth and the World.
In 2022, Elyse Blackshaw was commissioned by John Ruskin Primary in Southwark to facilitate workshops in all year groups to generate images for a playground mural. The theme of the mural was anchored on wellbeing. Children illustrated their favourite people, places or dreams to be featured in the mural. Elyse digitally recreated these illustrations, staying true to the children's original handwriting and medium, and compositioned the mural to include all imagery.
In 2022, Elyse Blackshaw collaborated with Shop From Crisis Peckham to facilitated a second-hand fashion drawing workshop. The workshop coincided with Elyse's illustrated window display in partnership with Captain Cyan printing services.