Live Event Illustration at Merchant Taylors’ Company: Behind the Scenes of a Historic Venue

Live Illustrating at Merchant Taylors’ Hall: A Historic Venue with a Modern Purpose

Last year, I was contacted by the events team at Merchant Taylors Company. They invited me to illustrate guests at one of their regular members events in the City of London. It took us a year to find a date that worked, but I’m so glad I had the opportunity to illustrate in such a historic building!

Illustrating at an institution with nearly 700 years of history was a fascinating and truly unique experience.

Their event in September was an opportunity for younger members of the organisation to connect with each other and build their networks, set in a building full in history.

Steeped in History : Inside the Merchant Taylors’ Company Event

The Merchant Taylors Company is one of the great twelve Livery companies of the City of London. They began as an association of working tailors and received their first royal charter in 1327 - nearly 700 years ago.

These days, the company is a community of people with various backgrounds, looking to support charities, high-quality education, and the City of London’s admin and ceremonial matters.

The company is also working with 40 small charities, operating social housing, and helping to support people in their lives. Click here to find out more about the Merchant Taylor Company, the history and the work they do.

Video showing the beautiful Merchant Taylor’s Hall courtyard in London.

Behind the Scenes: Live Illustrating Event Guests and a Celebrity Portrait

One of the most exciting things about being a live illustrator is not knowing who I’m going to meet or draw at each event.

Throughout the evening, I was on hand to illustrate quick, expressive portraits of guests as they networked and chatted with each other. Guests got the chance to take the home a unique memento of the evening and I loved seeing their reactions as I handed over their finished artwork.

I was especially excited to illustrate Rebecca from the Great British Sewing Bee 2026 and her wife, creating a portrait of the two of them together and capturing their personalities in my own illustrated style.

Putting My Creative Spin on Live Event Portraits

The majority of my portraits were of individuals, which gave me an opportunity to add a few more details as well as my usual splash of colour. I love adding little elements that reflect each person’s personality, outfit or interests, as these details can really bring a portrait to life and make each illustration feel personal and unique.

My favourite materials to use at the moment are my Caran D’Ache Gouache set, a Proarte dagger brush and a Tom’s Studio Lumos fineliner pen.

As a live illustrator, I have created portraits at a couple of different networking events now and it really helps create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Earlier this year, I illustrated at an event for Hg Capital and documented my experience in this blog post, which you can read here.

More Than Portraits: The Benefits of Hiring a Live Illustrator for Your Event

There are so many benefits to hiring a live illustrator for your event. Here are just a few :

• Your guests receive a unique gift or memento to take home

• It’s a great conversation starter! Especially in a networking event when people are meeting each other for the first time

• It’s adds energy and entertainment to the room. Guests can watch portraits being drawn in front of their eyes

• Makes your event stand out. It’s a great way for guests to remember your brand and the experience they had at your event

• It’s great for your socials and creating an ‘Instagrammable’ event. If you’d like to know more about what that means, take a look at my blog post- ‘How to create instagrammable moments for your live event’.

If you love the idea of live illustration and you have an event coming up that you think live illustration would be perfect for, please get in touch : hello@helenridley.com