Brighton Illustration Festival brings 130 stalls to the Brighton Centre

Brighton Illustration Festival^2,3,4 is back on Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November, with more than 130 exhibitors selling prints, zines, books and comics over two floors of The Wing at the Brighton Centre. The organisers say almost 2,000 people came last year.

The festival uses two venues. The stalls, drop-in workshops and food are in The Wing, which you reach from Russell Road at the back of the Brighton Centre, not from the seafront. Talks and screenings are across the road in Wagner Hall, on Russell Place. One ticket covers both, and the more than 20 talks, workshops and sessions are all included.

Gemma Shiel, who founded the London brand Lazy Oaf in 2001, is giving a talk looking back on its 25 years. The other guests include Hamish Steele, whose DeadEndia was adapted into Netflix’s Dead End: Paranormal Park, the West London sign painter and glass gilder Alex May Hughes, and the Brighton illustrator and designer Ibrahim “Ibbi” Yussop.

On Saturday, Patrick Gildersleeves of YUK FUN and Elsa Hingley-Knight of 2B Or Not 2B take drawing requests from the audience in Live Draw Live. On Sunday there is an hour of animated shorts, sent in through the festival’s animation open call. There are also one-to-one portfolio reviews with illustrators and people from the industry; sign-up in advance is essential and the festival says details are coming soon.

Go to The Wing first. That’s where you buy a ticket or swap your booking for a wristband. Most stalls take cash and card.