Represented by the Bright Agency.

 

I am thrilled that TWO of my projects have just been longlisted in the World Illustration Awards 2024 in the Children`s Publishing category.  You can view my WIA entries here on the AOI website. 

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I am originally from Derbyshire in England, but have been living in Switzerland for 11 years. I have recently started working as an Illustrator and I am now represented by the Bright Agency. Clients so far include Cricket Children`s Magazine, Family Matters Magazine and New Buds Publishing House. In 2023 I was thrilled to win the Northern Illustration Prize 2023 for Emerging Artists and to be shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards. This year I am delighted to be longlisted (currently) for two projects in the World Illustration Awards again under Children`s Publishing (New Talent). 

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 I am particularly interested in portraying human stories and relationships in my pictures, particularly focussing on families and friendships between people as well as animals. I am always trying to capture emotion, intimacy and atmosphere in my artwork. I aim to pull the reader into a story through my pictures. 

   

The majority of my illustration is created digitally using procreate. I find this gives me so much more freedom to play than working on paper ever seemed to allow me. Although procreate is my main tool, I try to work on procreate in an organic way, e.g. banning myself from the undo button, layering up colours as one would when painting and trying to leave in all those little `mistakes` and quirks that make the work feel more handmade. I really enjoy creating handmade textures using watercolour, ink and pastels and often this handmade work influences my digital work or is directly combined into my pictures on procreate to give even more sense of the hand-made analogue quality which I enjoy.

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I am particularly inspired by family life, old things and the beautiful countryside surrounding me in Switzerland. The changing colours, fractal patterns and textures of the landscape continually influence my work. As a sun chaser my obsession with the weather, the way it affects light, colour and mood, also feeds into my pictures.

 

I love the immediate and vibrant nature of children's art, folk art/traditions and modern art. My favourite artists include Kandinsky, Klee, Hundertwasser, Rothko and Miro, as well as children's illustrators such as Helen Stephens, Shirley Hughes, Alois Carigiet, Quentin Blake, Benji Davies and John Burningham. 

 

I also run the Storycraft Studio in Rüschlikon and have taught creative classes to hundreds of children, as well as managing collaborative projects in art festivals and in schools in the UK and Switzerland. I have been awarded three art grants, the most recent in 2023 for an exhibition and related workshops,  ‘Stories in a Suitcase’, to be held as part of Thalwil Kultur Tag Festival in June. 

 

When I'm not making, I love camping with my family, pottering through markets and exploring new places. Coming from the North of England I also enjoy drinking a lot of tea ... preferably made in a pretty teapot! See what I’ve been drawing, dreaming and doodling on Instagram.