Leeds-based illustrator Lily Orset has found a true home for their work in the small press community, with a love for Risograph and screen printing. Using illustrated stories to explore queerness and preserve tender, silly, or mundane moments, Lily creates small print runs and editions of intricate visual worlds. Their process often starts with light pencil drawings and handmade works that are scanned and tidied up before being turned into multi-layered prints for Risograph and screen printing, with added areas of bitmap.
Lily gained technical skills and inspiration during an internship at Colorama, a Risograph print studio and publisher in Berlin, where they connected with others interested in print ephemera. Inspired by print and fanzine culture, Lily is now part of Louise Press, a trio of illustrators in Leeds creating work with sentimentality and silliness at its core.
The press, formed with Lily’s two closest friends and collaborators who are also their housemates, reflects their shared love for creating small print communities. Thinking about who can see themselves through their drawings is always at the heart of Lily’s work as they continue to develop their self-published projects and explore the possibilities of Risograph and screen printing in their illustrations.
