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Cape Town – Illustrator Tom Hovey is the man who turns the baker’s creations into works of art on The Great British Bake Off.
Hovey has worked on every season of the popular baking competition including the upcoming 7th season.
In an interview with the BBC Tom says that he was in the right place at the right time when he landed the gig. A friend of his who worked in television got him a job editing for an amateur baking show.
He was working on an editing program with the director and editor who mentioned there was a visual element missing and that they were thinking of adding an illustration. He said he could do it, and the rest as they say is history.
To date he has drawn 1 000 cake illustration.
THE PROCESS
Creating the illustrations is a streamlined process. Tom uses photos of the finished bakes from the set after each episodes as reference.
“I sketch out all the bakes quickly in pencil to get the details, form and shape I am after. I then work these up by hand drawing them all in ink, then they’re scanned and coloured digitally, and then I add the titles and ingredient arrows. It's a fairly well streamlined process now,” says Tom.
Tom also sells his baked prints and there is also a colouring book out featuring the Great British Bake Off bakes.
