I had a slightly wobbly path to illustration. I studied art history, then worked in admin (in a secretarial college), direct marketing, more admin (in medical publishing this time) until I ran away back to the University of Westminster and got another degree in illustration.
That led to a fun spin through the world of prop making for television and film. I spent days gluing fun fur to an eight-foot-high nodding dog, and made a passport for James Bond, and along the way created hair dye boxes, Victorian Christmas cards, illuminated manuscript pages, cut out figurines of Bono, and painted pub signs.
Since then, I’ve worked mainly in picture books and educational publishing, with an occasional foray back into the world of the prop, most recently a map of Mongolia for The Grand Tour. As well as books, I’ve illustrated for a theatre poster and and marketing projects, and I’ve designed and illustrated invitations and seating plans for weddings.
While I particularly like drawing children, grumpy cats, crocodiles, dragons, guinea pigs and octopi, I am happy as long as I’m creating something, and clients have included Tate Publishing, Macmillan, the Polka Theatre, the NSPCC, Firefly Books, and Floris Books.