Illustrator Jillian Ditner

Recently I received a virtual introduction from Jillian Ditner. I was immediately impressed by the colour palette and mood of her artwork and illustrations. When I saw the image of a typist with white sheets (above) that she illustrated for Oprah at Home magazine, I was even more impressed. Based in Toronto, Jillian graduated from the Ontario College of Art & Design last year where she studied fine art and focused on printmaking.

"I have been active as both an artist and illustrator," she says. "My focus right now is more on illustration, as I am currently out of studio, but my love of printmaking continues... I would love to branch out into the design realm in the future."

I asked Jillian what her most exciting project has been to date. "The most exciting project I've worked on was with 'Lights Out Toronto' (image below with the bird in flight). This city-run organization whose aim it is to reduce the amount of migratory bird deaths in Toronto. For their spring campaign I created a series of limited edition screen prints to be awarded to building owners/ architects who strive to make city buildings 'bird friendly'. The reason I enjoyed this project so much is because I feel it is important for artists to become involved with environmental/social causes, and due to lack of funding for these types of projects, it can be very difficult to do so. I am happy to say that this project has sparked the interest for similar campaigns in other cities across North America."

We look forward to seeing more work from Jillian. You can see her portfolio of prints and illustrations at Painted by Number.