Est. 2019
About
Hello, I’m Pipa.
I grew up in Louisville drawing on the back of my mother’s church bulletins, studied printmaking, and spent six years as a staff illustrator at a magazine before going freelance in 2019. That year I bought a secondhand two-drum riso, rented a room above a bike shop on Frankfort Ave, and called it Pomelo Press, after the fruit I was eating when the lease came through.
These days I split the week between commissions and the press. Editors and art directors hire me for pictures with a point of view; publishers for picture books that children can read in the dark; food and drink makers for packaging that looks handmade because it was.
Dez Arbogast runs the press two days a week and packs every shop order. If you’ve bought a print, Dez folded the tissue.
Process
Every picture is three drawings stacked up
1. Pencil
Thumbnails, then one tight drawing with every overlap planned.
2. Plates
Each ink redrawn as its own black-and-white layer.
3. Press
Proofed on the riso, one pass per ink, to check the overprints.
4. Post
Print-ready files to your printer, or an edition from the studio.
Tools
On the drawing table
- A two-drum riso, 2009 vintage, named Doris
- Drums in fluorescent pink, federal blue and yellow, plus black for type
- Blue pencils, a 2B, a light box and a lot of tracing paper
- A tablet and a flatbed scanner for separations
- Cream and white 100 lb cover stock, bought by the pallet
Studio facts
- Based
- Frankfort Ave, Louisville
- Time zone
- Eastern (it’s 10am)
- Picture books
- 5 published, 1 in progress
- Prints pulled
- About 40,000
- Next open studio
- Saturday, November 7, 11am to 4pm
Fairs and events
Come and find me at a table
I bring the full shop, the seconds bin and a stack of free stickers to every fair. Workshops are booked by email.
Ask about a workshop