Amy Shephard

Amy Shephard is a 21 year old, London-based photographer, videographer and illustrator, aiming to uplift the alternative music scene, particularly underrepresented musicians, through their art. They have devoted much of their life to music, immersing themselves in it and building a strong community within the scene as a fan, but also working with publications on live coverage.

As an illustrator, they explore how they can bring a new outlook to the creative world, especially by spotlighting those who are less frequently platformed. Working primarily in digital media, they design characters and comics, while also developing a growing interest in mixed media. An example of this is the design process of their zine “FaceTheMusic”.

Shephard blends their two creative practices to make work that speaks to the people to their community, - capturing split second moments in photography, and evolving them into something with a wider purpose through illustrations and typography.

“FaceTheMusic” zine cover – This is the front and back cover for a zine called “FaceTheMusic” that Shephard created during their Final Major Project. It dives into the financial disparities in the music industry facing underground, underrepresented musicians, particularly in the alternative music scene. It contains interviews with 4 bands about their experiences and some additional writing about the topic, with their own photography of them, illustrations and written type (also created by Shephard).

“FaceTheMusic” pages 3&4, Bridget Interview

“Big Foot” mini comic – A double page spread, mini comic for the university “Rave Frame” magazine. The theme for everyone on this was “Myths and Legends”. Shephard's take on this was inspired by iconic pop culture moments (like Britney Spear’s shaving her hair and Chappell Roan telling off a photographer) and placing famous legend Big Foot on a fictional late night talk show “The Talon Show” (pun, aka the Jimmy Fallon show) to talk about them. Big Foot goes through these big moments of their career, the good and bad, to show what makes them an icon.

“Dill’s Discovery” digital zine page 2 – A page taken from the risograph zine Shephard designed for a university project, inspired by their very sassy beloved cat Dilly who passed away. It’s a story where the cat “Dill” discovers that the other cat she keeps seeing following her in the windows, her water bowl etc is actually herself. But the whole time she believes that she is being followed by a cat who is copying her. It is essentially a silly self discovery story and an ode to my cat.

“Scowl” playing The Dome