As an illustrator and designer with over 23 years experience working within the creative industries I have produced visual solutions for a range of clients, designing imagery for packaging, publishing, advertisement and editorial purposes. Having published over seventy books for children, I specialise in narrative illustration with an emphasis on story-boarding and character development.

I am also an academic working at Loughborough University, teaching Graphic Communication in the School of Design and Creative Arts, as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. 

I am currently in the third year of my practice-based PhD. My research explores the development of wordless illustration, unconstrained by commercialised restrictions and bound linear sequences. As an authorial practitioner, this research examines the design processes and the application of new forms of material as pedagogic tools in the context of immersive group readings.

Clients include Frances Lincoln, Liberty of London, Harrods, Templar Publishing, Random House, Usborne Publishing, Cadburys, Faber & Faber, Macmillan Publishing, Barefoot Books, Marks and Spencer, The BBC, The Times Newspaper, The Radio Times...

Children's picture books include'Our Tower' written by Jospeh Coelho, the 12th Children's Laureate, published by Frances Lincoln. This book explores hi-rise living and the importance of inner-city communities. Working with Jospeh on his semi-autobiographic narrative was a delight. The book was founded on an intensive research phase which investigated some of the urban and rural areas that Jospeh grew up in.

'The Thing at 52' written by Ross Montgomery is a poignant story which discusses complex themes of old age and death. I designed the Thing as part guinea pig-part gorilla-part lion and a little bit of rabbit!

'Once Upon a Snowstorm' was published by Faber and Faber in November 2018, It is my first wordless picture-book and explores the story of a lonely boy who becomes separated from his father in a huge snowstorm. The book was designed to allow the parent and child to develop their own response to some of the themes within the story.

I have also had the pleasure of working with Katya Balen, illustrating her beautiful stories 'Birdsong' and 'Nightjar', published by Barrington Stoke.

I have illustrated numerous books for children of all ages, including 'Pinccochio' and 'Alice in Wonderland' for the popular 'Pop-up and Sounds' series by Templar Publishing, 'My Grandpa's Amazing Inventions' which I wrote and illustrated in 2008. Other titles include revised editions of 'The Nativity' and 'The Night Before Christmas', published by Random House. Books for younger readers include 'Animal Stories for Bedtime', 'Illustrated Nursery Rhymes' and 'Animal Alphabet ABC', published by Usborne.

Recognition:

 

Working Process and Influences:

 

I enjoy experimenting with different approaches to creating my illustrations and my work is often an amalgamation of traditional and digital drawing processes. The work starts life within my sketchbooks and this imagery is developed through a process of digitally scanning and re-drawing. I use a Cintiq tablet and Photoshop to layer combinations of digital painting and traditional medium. Experimenting with this mixed-media approach allows me to discover new directions for my work.

My main interest is sequential story-telling. Finding interesting themes and stories to tell is important to me and I enjoy being able to work with authors to develop sequences of images that expand and complement a text. As a predominantly narrative illustrator I am fascinated by the relationships between text and image, narrative viewpoint and developing character. I enjoy imagery that has a sense of personality and atmosphere, tone and lighting also have a big part to play in how I conceive and develop my work. I am also interested in the compositional relationships between shape and space, sometimes forced perspectives or viewpoints.