About Advocate Art
Kate Johnson
Lisa Musing
Natasha Harding
Ghislaine Gayyo
Amanda Hendon
Eunsun Lim
Bhavisha Vadgama
Courtney Walls
Sophie Youle
Advocate Art was founded in 1992, with a group of illustrators who liked the idea of having an agent but not the other things that often came with that. We call our ethos four “F.A.C.T.s”: Fairness, Ability, Creativity and Trust. It’s about doing the right thing and being with the right people. We think our principles set us apart from conventional agencies, sticking to them has meant we have attracted the most creative illustrators and artists who in turn attract (with a little help) the best clients. The people we represent are perfectly able to conduct their own affairs but like working with Advocate Art because we offer value to them in the services we provide. Clients are assured that we represent artists that are like-minded professionals, pre-vetted and able not only to get the job done without fuss, but also to surpass expectations. It’s their choice to be with us, we have a high retention rate - with the most popular artists in our group being with us from the start! We were one of the first Agencies to give direct client contact with our illustrators, allowing creativity to flow without being diluted in translation. We were one of the first to offer re-sales as an important secondary income to artists. Now we have gone beyond that too, with the development of an on-line portal - ARTicle which enables artists to have transparency into the back office functions of the business, such as royalty management and credit control, amongst other things. Business is all about relationships, which is why we have a very high artist to agent ratio, clients often use us as artistic advisors, project managers as well a trend forward resource for pre-qualified talent. It is for these reasons that Advocate Art has become the largest illustration agency around and I’d like to think one of the most respected but- we understand we didn’t get that way by acting like the biggest. Come and find out for yourself…
LIMITED EDITION PORTFOLIO PRINT /
BRIGHT & BEAUTIFUL
01
ALBERTO PIERUZ Pieruz studied fine arts at Salamanca University specializing in painting, graphic design and audiovisuals. He studied one year in Saint-Etienne, France. He spent two years working in his art studio in Salamanca. He had some of his individual and collective exhibitions there. At that time, he made his doctorate in illustration at Salamanca. He also has exhibited his work in cities like GijĂłn, Oviedo, Barcelona, and Madrid. A scholarship gave him the opportunity to move to Barcelona. Seeking to combine different ways of artistic expression, Pieruz decided to take up illustration studies at the EINA, Centro Universitario de DiseĂąo y Arte, de Barcelona. There he found more expressive and graphic forms of communication. Now, Pieruz works as an illustrator in his studio. He talks about himself in the third person.
02
AMY CARTWRIGHT
Amy Cartwright was born in England and now lives in the USA. She is sure that the small toy polar bear she had in her childhood led her to her artistic career. Amy studied Illustration at Central Saint Martins in London and would describe her style as whimsical, fun and cute. She enjoys working with a 0.3mm propelling pencil, paper at first, then she digitalises it, which means she can work anywhere as long as she has her computer. Her favourite piece at the moment is a little dog with a sad face. She likes listening to NPR, BBC World and Tycho (for really crazy deadlines!) In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, travelling and making stuff. If she weren’t an illustrator, she would be on a beach or a mountain. She can’t decide whether she loves the city or the countryside more; she loves them both!
03 AMY ZHING
Amy grew up in the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. She studied fine art at university but realised a career as an award winning fine artist was far too serious for her. So, she has decided to try and make it as an award winning illustrator instead!
04
ANGELIKA SCUDAMORE
Angelika is based in South London. She always loved drawing and her earliest memory is drawing with her dad. She was obsessed with Beatrix Potter with her beautiful illustrations of cute fluffy bunnies and animals as a child. Ever since Angelika can remember herself, she always wanted to have the exact studio Beatrix had with her bunny sitting on her desk! Everywhere she goes she carries around a sketchbook and jots down every idea that comes to my head. Before she became an illustrator she taught yoga to young children, making up innovative stories through yoga. This was what later inspired Angelika to illustrate children’s books. She loves the hustle and bustle of the city and stopping off at small coffee shops, where she gathers most inspiration from the people and atmosphere. Angelika loves creating cute, fun characters.
05
ANNABEL SPENCELEY
Annabel’s career began with a degree in Fashion, followed by a Masters in illustration (she hated sewing!). Her first job was in a publisher’s studio doing colouring books and encyclopaedias, which was good for general knowledge. Then she went freelance with children’s books. She accidentally got into greetings cards by agreeing to cover maternity leave for a friend and she loved it. Now she’s getting back into book illustration again. She loves doing figures and animals, but does not love drawing bicycles. She prefers to work by being left alone with her pencils and paints and she likes the feel of actual paint and paper, incorporating the accidental into her work. For her, inspiration can come from anywhere, magazine snippings, TV, random animals, random things in general, cat videos.
06
CEE BISCOE
Cee grew up surrounded by paintings and sculptures and was encouraged to draw from an early age. After school, she studied Graphic Design and began a tentative illustration career whilst at college, designing punk record covers and gothic stationery! Then she had other jobs for many years, which were totally unrelated to art. It wasn’t until 2000 that she focused on drawing again and once she had some commissions she left her office job to concentrate on illustration, starting with greetings cards and craft designs. In 2008, she attained her MA in Children’s Book Illustration and since then she has illustrated several picture books and board books. She finds inspiration in nature and has a fondness for creepy crawlies, which means they often turn up in her pictures! She paints in watercolour and acrylics and loves getting messy in her studio (a converted shed in the garden), where she watches the birds from her window.
07
CHRISTINE SHELDON
Christine was born in Manchester in 1970, grew up in Kent then Leicester and now lives in Earls Barton village, Northampton. She loved the illustrations in the books she read as a child, mostly books like ‘The Elves and the Shoemaker’ and ‘Rumplestiltskin’, and also others. She has always been a fan of telly, watching cartoons like Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Sylvester and Tweetie Pie, Tasmanian Devil etc, and have an ongoing love for Ray Harryhausen films. She trained as a graphic designer in Leicester and Northampton, and in her first job as a junior designer her employer bought a small greeting card company and she immediately loved it, designed/ illustrated entire ranges, art directed photography/ freelance illustrators. She learned to scan sketches and draw/paint them up on a Mac, which is still her method of choice 20 years later She describes her work as quirky, whimsical, and contemporary, she also has a more traditional soft and cute character style too. Her hobbies are baking and camping, and doing her two son’s school projects for them. She loves all sorts of music, and her husband has a punk band called ‘Limehouse Rats’ that he thought she should mention.. Her favourite films are comedies, Trading Places, 3 Amigos, The Jerk, Withnail and I, Zoolander. She is also a big fan of Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
08
CLAIRE KEAY
My illustrating style has always suited children’s books and I naturally gravitate towards the kid’s section in book stores, always preferring their lovely rich magical images rather than looking at those grown up books. I began with a pen and watercolour style which I still love but am increasingly spending more time working digitally and always enjoy exploring new ways to create my art. I am based in an old market town in the south of England and when not illustrating you can find me pottering around in my garden or cheering on Arsenal from my seat at the Emirates!
09
CLARE WILSON
Clare spent 12 years working in house as senior designer for leading greeting card publishers in the UK, as an artists’ agent and design consultant in London. She now freelances from her home studio in the North Somerset countryside. Over the last few years she has been able to rekindle her love for creating colourful, fun characters, and experimenting with different styles and techniques. Clare’s love for the greeting card industry shines through in her diverse styles. Clare originally studied Children’s Illustration where she spent hours drawing, painting and printmaking. She spent 12 years working in house as senior designer for leading greeting card publishers in the UK and as an artists’ agent and design consultant in London. Clare is now in her third year of freelancing from her home studio in the North Somerset countryside. Over the last few years she has been able to rekindle her love for creating colourful, fun characters, experimenting with different styles and techniques. She enjoys the challenge of creating work that makes children and adults alike smile!
10
DANIELA MASSIRONI
Daniela was born in 1984 in a small town near Milan, Italy. She has always loved drawing. Since she was very small, her favourite pastime has always been sketching and doodling, giving life to the fantasy stories in my head. She studied Graphic Design in Milan and in London, where she lived for four years. There she had the chance to work as a Children’s Book designer at Egmont UK. This experience gave her the chance to get in touch with amazing and inspiring illustrators and to see her dream of becoming an illustrator come true. Now she is back in Italy, where she works as a freelance Children’s Book illustrator. She loves her job so much, especially when thinking of all the children that she make happy with her drawings! Daniela‘s favourite illustrators and greatest inspirations are Mary Blair, Marc Boutavant and Joey Chou
11 DEAN GRAY
Dean was born in Roehampton and is currently based in south London. He studied Graphic Design, which makes that conceptual thinking plays a huge part in his idea process. He takes a lot of inspiration from watching films, animations, browsing the Internet, collecting vinyl toys, kawaii culture and science fiction. He has a character driven approach to his work and he is passionate about story telling. Creating a character that someone can have an emotional connection with is what he find most exciting.
12
DIEGO VAISBERG
Diego Vaisberg, 35 years old, DGPH art director, working as designer and illustrator. Also working in product and design department for Ink-co kids accessories brand, and professor since 2014 at Editorial design and Illustration at the Palermo University, Buenos Aires
13
ED MYER
Ed was born in Manchester in an artistic household; nearly everyone in his immediate family works in creative industries. He went on to get a degree in Ceramics at a university, but realised that it was drawing that really mattered for him. He is now based in London, and when not working on commission, he enjoys travelling, playing computer games and walking his little Jack Russell Ted.
14
ELA SMIETANKA
Ela Smietanka is a Polish illustrator. Her adventure with drawings has started when she was a little girl. In order to make her dreams come true she graduated from the Faculty of Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakรณw, where she now lives with her husband, two sons, a cat named Zuzia, and some other cats from the neighbourhood. She is a freelancer. In her work she combines pencils, paints and Photoshop, happily discovering again and again new digital techniques. When she is preparing draft illustrations, she listens to audiobooks, and with a good sensation novel she may work until dawn. She spends her time off on a bicycle, listening energetic music. If she were to choose a job other than an illustrator, she could be a dancer.
15
ELLIE O’SHEA
Ellie is a coffee addict, an avid snowboarder and bad joke teller. She completed her degree in Illustration in Plymouth and now living in Worcester with her (equally bad joke-telling) boyfriend. They love lazy Sundays watching cartoons all day, her biggest inspiration for drawing! She has always loved watching cartoons and when she was around 8 she decided, “Hey, I want to draw like that!” So she picked up her pencil, and here she is. She loves writing and illustrating children’s books. Starting with scribbles before drawing and colouring up in Illustrator and Photoshop. When she’s not doodling or drinking coffee, you will usually find her shopping for makeup, binge-watching cartoons or watching pug videos on Youtube. Yes, she is an adult, why do you ask?
16
EMANUELA MANELLO
Emanuela was born in 1986 in Rome, where she grew up, and now lives in Anguillara Sabazia, a little village on the coast of lake Bracciano. She graduated from the “International School of Comics”, where she studied artistic drawing, graphic design and illustration. She’s grateful that her family has always supported her. During the years after her studies, she has worked with a number of publishers and has participated in various competitions. This year, the Sharjah Book Authority will exhibit her illustrations of “Beauty and the Beast”. When she works on her illustrations, she lives in a magical world; music, Disney, the Victorian age and her favourite books are her inspiration! The usual method that she employs in her work is digital art with photoshop and watercolors; she likes to refine her drawings with details. In her free time, Emanuela reads books, watches movies and TV series and hangs out with her best friends… they are part of her family! She is a Harry Potter fan girl and loves the geek world!
17
ESTELLE CORKE
Estelle loves creating gentle, affectionate scenes, that are also fun. She illustrates using both a gouache style which is bright and cheerful and a watercolour style, that allows her to create both delicate and interesting textures
18
FRANCESCO ZITO
Francesco was born in a little town in Italy with only a bell tower and lots of narrow stone streets. He has been drawing since he was a child but never on his own books! Beatrix Potter and Richard Scarry have been his own precious sources of inspiration. It was through their books and illustrations that he understood he would have become a children illustrator. He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts and some of his works were selected over the years for some important Italian competitions. He likes many different media like colored pencils, acrylic paints and his trusty Cintiq tablet. Now he lives in Rome with some friends, spending his time in bookstores in search of new children books to collect and eating gelato too! He dreams of having a dog.
19
GAIL YERRILL
Gail Yerrill lives in a village in Bedfordshire, England. After gaining her BA (Hons) in 2D design in 1998 she became a freelance illustrator and designer of greetings cards and giftwrap for a major British supermarket chain, and has also illustrated items for other significant British institutions. She has illustrated many books for well known publishers, several of which are translated into many languages. Gail is well known for her soft, whimsical style which is well loved by children and adults alike.
20
GARETH WILLIAMS
Gareth was born in Hillingdon, West London, but ventured (when he was two) to the green valleys of South Wales. Maybe ventured was a little too Indiana Jones! At an early age he loved to draw. He quickly realised that his dream of becoming the rst Welsh astronaut would be sidelined for his creative abilities and talents. He still wants to ful l his dream. He studied general illustration at Swansea Metropolitan. Having worked with leading stationery and greeting cards companies, he now finds himself looking to develop his freelance career. His work has a strong illustrative in uence, with lots of textures and layers to create a hand drawn style. He loves letterpress and screen printing something that is often prevalent in his work. He frequently visits art exhibitions and nds himself wondering around a gallery with his sketchbook then getting back to his computer, putting his play-list on shu e, opening up his sketchbook and exploring new techniques and ideas. Gareth has always had a passion for design and apart from his burning desire to still be an astronaut, being creative and doing what he loves has always been a fundamental rule his life.
21
GINA MALDONADO
Gina comes from Bogota, Colombia, and studied Architecture in Mexico. Since then she has travelled and lived all around the world! In Italy, she carried out a Masters in Interior Design and discovered her love for illustration (and gelato!). Since then, she has been illustrating, freelancing, and trying to avoid big crowds in the bustling city of Hong Kong. When it comes to inspiration, it’s her justification for traveling and watching cute animal videos on loop. While she works, she listens to all kinds of music, though at the moment she loves ‘Kyary Pamyu Pamyu’. This music is quirky and gets her in a good mood. The best muses are without a doubt her two sweet cats, Nocciola and Cereza, who come by for cuddles whenever she works! She’d describe her work as cute, sweet and fun. She loves colours and flowery details! She also likes her illustrations to have their own textures, so she makes different textures from acrylics, gouache, pastels, and coloured pencils, to name a few. When she’s not working, she channels her creative energy into painting her nails with colourful designs, making sock creatures and of course, taking cute cat photos. She is very passionate about her work and can’t think of anything else in the world she’d rather be doing that could give her as much happiness.
22
JAYNE SCHOFIELD
Jayne Schofield was born in Morecambe, by the sea in Lancashire, and after many years of travelling she came back to this area to raise her family. Her grandad was an artist and she spent most of her younger days sitting with him learning to draw and paint. She spent every available moment immersed in her sketchbooks! She gained a degree in Illustration and Design at Staffordshire University and from there she went to work within the gift and fashion industries. She now works as a freelance illustrator/ designer from her studio at the back of our home. She produces her illustrations using a combination of traditional and digital collage techniques and likes to mix textures, type and imagery to create playful and fun art. Her husband tells everyone that she draw fairies for a living, she tell them that she has the best job in the world!
23
JENNIE BRADLEY
Jennie is an illustration addict, colour-er-innerer extraordinaire, serial picture book purchaser and wild lama juggler*. She has always loved to draw, but it was whilst studying for her degree that she discovered drawing in a digital form and she has never looked back. She graduated in 2007 and has been doodling professionally ever since (freelance since 2011). She works from home in her little studio (in either her pj’s or her onesie!) surrounded by hundreds of picture books (did we mention she is completely obsessed with children’s books!?!) Quick-fire facts: Her son Rocky is a mini walking/talking/giggling bundle of inspiration, she is a massive Rammstein fan (ROCK!!), documentaries of choice: all things science and space, World geography is her specialist subject, she is scared of oil rigs and airships (don’t ask!), she was (very) nearly eaten by a lion in Botswana and chocolate is her nemesis. *Stories of lamas and juggling skills have been fabricated.
24
JENNIFER DAVISON
Jennifer Davison is an illustrator from Northern Ireland. She works at home, in her little studio packed full of children’s books and toys. Jennifer has worked in the animation industry but she recently left to pursue her passion in children’s picture books. She loves the playfulness of producing work for children. It takes her back to being a child herself, spending hours creating imaginary worlds and characters. When illustrating for children, she tries to look again at the world through the eyes of a child. Although, she doesn’t think she has ever actually ‘grown up’ so it doesn’t take much for her to regress to childhood again! Jennifer’s childhood is a constant source of inspiration for her work. The things that she learned and experienced when she was younger have shaped who she is today. It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to inspire children. She was fortunate enough to grow up in a house were creativity was encouraged. Her mum is an artist, so creating art has always been part of her life.
25 JO PARRY
Jo left art school in the early 90’s after five years of study, specialising in illustration and design. She is lucky enough to have been a full time illustrator ever since working primarily in the areas of magazine editorial and print initially, then later children’s books and greetings cards. Her work has expanded into areas such as fine art prints, games and puzzles, social stationary and calendars, as well as giftware, homewares and several aspects of design such as logos, business stationary and print publications. In 2016 she had her first self-penned children’s book published, Sleep Little Pup, working with Collaborate, an area she wishes to move into further in 2017. She has written a further six books which will be ready for Advocate to appraise in the near future. When she‘s not busy illustrating for her agents, she is also an art teacher for children and a private art tutor, and has developed two ranges of tourist giftware for her local area which has hit the shelves this year and is selling well! Jo feels very blessed to have such an exciting career, one she wishes to continue for years to come. “The ideas keep coming!” Spending the day being creative and also having the chance to pass on those skills to the next generation is a privilege and an honour, says Jo. Outside of creative pursuits she is a keen runner and swimmer. Other interests include cooking and nutrition, reading (especially art history), antiques and collectables with an emphasis on anything related to the Arts & Crafts movement and attending sport and other cultural events.
26 JULIA SEAL
When Julia was five, she decided she was either going to work in a shoe shop or draw pictures for a living and luckily, many years later, she graduated from University with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. After working in the Greetings Card Industry and getting covered in glitter everyday, she moved onto her dream job illustrating children’s books. She now lives in a small village near Bath with her husband and two children, surrounded by books and inspiration.
27 KEV PAYNE
I grew up with a love of books, comics and cartoons which inspired me to draw. Someone once said that I see life as a cartoon and that is pretty ok with me. My artwork always starts with my sketchpad before moving on to digital and my studio is filled with sketches, colours and coffee. I love bringing ideas to life and, as a primary school teacher, have a keen interest in educational ideas. My first book, ‘B is for Blobfish’, was inspired when planning a science lesson and features a wide range of unusual and unloved animals. Alongside illustration, I write stories, poems and create animations and interactive games. I’m also a town crier and 4th generation Punch and Judy man - Oyez! Oyez!
28
LAURA GONZALEZ
It was the year of 1984, in the industrial city of Monterrey, MĂŠxico, when Laura was born. Drawing was one of her favourite amusements when she was a child, so her parents took her into drawing classes, at the age of 8. It was a short time, but enough to give her the confidence to study the career of Graphic Design some years later. Sometimes Laura wonders what it would be of her life if she had dedicated to any of her other interests: music, photography, plants, etc. But at the end of the day, she is pretty sure she would had been wondering exactly the same about illustration and it is always a joy to think how lucky she is to have such a lovely profession. And how does she cope with all that illustration hard work? Well, her feline helpers are the key to keep this ship from sinking.
29
LISA ALDERSON
Lisa was born in Lancashire, but now lives and works in a lovely village near York. After gaining her degree in Scientific and Natural History Illustration at Blackpool college she went straight into freelance work as one of Advocates artists, and has stayed there ever since. Over 15 years later she‘s still doing her first love – creating artworks. It feels a privilege to her, to be part of Advocate and do something that she‘s loved for as long as she could remember. Her inspirations come from anything and everything that’s aesthetically pleasing, especially the beauty of nature and all pretty things. Its been an obsession she’s had since childhood, studying early 20th century children‘s book illustrations, spending time in the company of Peter Rabbit, Jemima, flower fairies and the characters from Lady bird books. When she‘s not working she can be found spending time with her twins and Dillon the Dog, busy getting sore fingers building Lego, trampolining and going on adventures in rabbit holes.
30 LIZA LEWIS
Liza is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. Originally from Belgium, she now lives in Southampton, England, and works from her home studio, where she creates fun, quirky illustrations and unusual children’s designs. She gets lots of inspiration from her pets, family, animals, toys, music, art, fabrics and plants - anything really! She has a particular interest in children’s illustration and enjoys creating new and exciting children’s characters that she likes to incorporate into her designs. Liza’s illustration style incorporates lots of colour, texture and detail. She likes to draw a rough initial illustration by hand and then take it to the computer where she adds lots of colour, detailed texture and bits and pieces. This is where the illustrations come to life and where the magic happens.
31 LIZZY DOYLE
Lizzy is an illustrator, designer, and author from New Jersey. She loves making art for cool kids and quirky adults, while bringing smiles and laughter to people everywhere! Lizzy is inspired by animals, gardens and all things cute. She is also an avid collector of oddities & antiques and you’ll never see her without tea in hand.
32
LOUISE ANGLICAS
Louise Anglicas hails from Manchester, but now lives just down the road in the heart of the Potteries, Staffordshire with her partner and 2 young children. She graduated with a degree in Ceramics and Surface pattern, and started her career as an in-house designer at a tableware manufacturer, designing patterns for high street clients as well as for cruiseliners for the hotelware division. After picking up lots of commercial design awareness, she then ventured into the freelance world... and now 14 years later has had the privilege of working on many diverse products from childrens books, to wall art, to greeting cards, to jigsaws and stationery to name but a few! She loves surface pattern design, and illustrating characters are her passion. Always striving to keep an eye on the constantly changing trends and incorporate them into her designs. She feels very lucky to be able to illustrate and design for a living...12 years and counting being represented with Advocate Art, and still loving the diversity of work... the adventure continues!!
33
MAGALI MANSILLA
Magalí Mansilla is a freelance illustrator based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She studied Graphic Design at the University of Buenos Aires, and has been freelance since 2004. Magalí uses a variety of techniques to create her illustrations, but whichever medium she chooses her priority is capturing the magic of childhood in dreamlike forms and colours. In her free time, Magalí enjoys practicing yoga, playing guitar and ukulele, discovering new music, and watching Buster Keaton films.
34
MARIA REYES
Maria Reyes Guijarro is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer based in Madrid. She trained as an illustrator at the School of Art #10 in Madrid and, since the completion of her studies in 2009, the focus of her work is in graphic design and illustration for the publishing sector, public institutions and NGOs. She is available for illustration, branding, print design/layout and poster design. Some of her clients are L’Institut français, ONCE Foundation, Caja Madrid Foundation, Save the Children, Santillana, Edicións Xerais (Grupo Anaya) or Hiperión. In 2010 she received a Special Mention from the jury at the V International Illustrated Album Award Gran Canaria / Editorial Group Luis Vives and, in 2017, her work has been included in the honour list by the OEPLY, the spanish chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People - IBBY, a selection of the best children books of the year.
35
MELANIE MITCHELL
I’ve always loved drawing - ever since I can remember! So studying art was a obvious choice for me. After college, I studied illustration at the North Wales school of Art and Design, where I gained a degree. I’ve been working as an illustrator for 15 years now and I’ve been lucky enough to work on a variety of illustration projects, from packaging and greeting cards to children’s books (which I enjoy illustrating the most). I live in Mid Wales with my two children, who are always a source of inspiration, and my partner Paul Nicholls, who is also an Advocate artist.
36
MICHAEL EMMERSON
Born in 1974, Michael has been drawing pictures ever since he could pick up a Burnt Sienna crayon and scribble all over the new wallpaper. Nowadays, he tends to use a Mac, pencils and paper. He lives in Surrey, with his lovely wife Alice and crazy children. When he’s not drawing colourful fun pictures or solving mysteries, he also designs Toys and Chocolates. Yum.
37
NOOPUR THAKUR
Noopur is a children’s illustrator and a surface patterns designer based in England. She began her career in India as an in-house textile designer at a large soft furnishing company where she created art for a variety of home furnishing products serving global manufacturers and retailers. She went on to become the creative head of a design studio leading a team of designers. Over the years, she realised her natural inclination towards children’s art and since than pursuing this passion to create colourful whimsical art for children’s market. After the birth of her elder son in 2008, she started her own studio in Manchester to provide illustrations and surface pattern designs. Her cutesy style and use of bright colours quickly won her work from business ranging from children’s books, wall art and gifts to tableware, storage and home décor. Some of her clients include Target, Hobby Lobby, Creative tops, Harrods, Priddy books, WHS Smith, American Greetings, Arcturus Publishing Limited, Ballon Media and YoYo Books, Kaleidoscope. Her creative inspiration comes from simple things around her like art, food, nature or going to parks and museums with her boys or visiting local craft markets, bookshops and cafes. Most of Noopur’s work starts with a pencil sketch and then rendered on the Mac in Adobe Photoshop. She uses a lot of traditional sketching and painting skills to help influence her digital work. Her rich experience of working with in textiles industry brings a lot of textures, patterns and embroidery details to her illustrations. If she wasn’t an illustrator, she would definitely have been a baker and confectioner.
38
PAULINE SIEWERT
I grew up in lots of places; Tanzania for the first eight years of my life and then Brighton, London and Surrey. After doing a foundation course at Wimbledon School of Art, I studied Graphics and illustration at Kingston Polytechnic. I worked for a display company and was the visualiser for a small design group in central London. I had always wanted to illustrate children’s books though and in 1998, became freelance to do just that. I am married and we live in Farnham, Surrey. When not illustrating I love to travel, read and walk in the Surrey and Dorset countryside.
39 POPE TWINS
Liz and Kate have created art together since leaving Staffordshire University in 2001. They both gained a first class degree in Surface Pattern Design, a very broad course, which allowed each student to and their own strengths. During this time Kate became passionate about colour, often experimenting with bold shapes, combining pattern, collage and mixed media. Liz edged more towards illustration, focusing more on her detail and line, soon finding a real style of her own. They both still very much work with the same set of skills, mostly working together on commercial briefs, Liz sketching and then passing along to Kate to colour up. However when it comes to a one off fine artwork, we go our separate ways a little and let our individuality show through! Their adventure as artists began back at their Mum and Dads in the bedroom they grew up in! Turning their beds into desks! They now work at Liz’s house in a small studio, that’s full to the brim with paints, collage papers, children’s books, sketch books, it’s certainly the messiest room in the house!!
40
ROSARIA BATTILORO
Rosaria was born in Naples, a beautiful city in the south of Italy, where she currently lives. She has always loved drawing and since she was a little girl her favorite pastime during the long summer days was playing around with pencils, markers, brushes and gouache to create her little and colorful world. It was since then that she decided to become an illustrator growing up. She graduated at the Fine Arts Academy In Naples and then took three years of illustration classes and in 2011 started working as a freelancer illustrator for publishers and private clients all around the world. She loves to mix the warm feeling of the traditional media with the bright and intense colors of digital in her work, but she also loves the simple and delicate contrast of black and white pencils lines or the freshness of watercolors. Rosaria loves stories in every form therefore in her free time she reads books and watches movies, two big sources of inspiration for her art. She drinks too much tea and her dream is to have a little home studio in the English countryside and a pet fox!
41
SIMON ABBOTT
Artist and designer Simon Abbott has been illustrating children’s books, games and stationery for over 15 years. He specialises in bold colours and delightful characters of all kinds and describes his work as fun, fresh and happy. His easy style has instant appeal and helps to communicate complex ideas and concepts in a flash. Whether he is drawing playground fun, astronauts, dinosaurs or monkeys swinging through trees, his art is always engaging and is guaranteed to make children smile. Simon lives and works in Suffolk, UK, with his partner and their 3 boys. When he hasn’t got a pen or paintbrush in his hand, he enjoys music, festivals, running and ice-cream.
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STEVEN WOOD
Steven lives in North London and works from a little studio in his house. While most of his time is spent spying on the neighbourhood cats and trying to lure them into his house, he does love to doodle. When drawing, Steven‘s main focus is always the cast of characters that brings life and movement to the picture. He loves to emphasise subtle humour, taking influence from the adventure stories he loved as a child. Whether that’s tales of pirates and sunken treasure, cowboys, knights and dragons, or classic murder mystery stories, they all shape the pictures he loves to draw. When not working, Steven‘s favourite hobby is stealing biscuits from his girlfriend and blaming the ‘house mouse’. “I promise there really is a mouse in our house that has an unstoppable biscuit addiction… I’m trying to get him help.” Steven loves sport too. “Yay, sports-ball!”
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VALERIA ISSA
Valeria Issa was born in Rome in 1988 but lived in a tiny village nearby for most of her childhood. She studied Character Animation and Digital Illustration at Nemo NT Academy of Digital Arts in Florence. Straight after graduating she moved to London and realized she wanted to pursue her interest in illustration. After all, she couldn’t stay away from her pencils and sketchbooks! She loves portraying children and animals in humorous situations and using bright and captivating colors. She takes inspiration from everything and everywhere around her, in that unconventional way that defines her style and creativeness. She loves chocolate and cats, messy doodles and when it rains at night. When she is not working she can be found writing short stories, watching movies and trying new recipes in the kitchen.
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XENIA PAVLOVA
Xenia was born in Riga (Latvia, Baltic sea region), in a family of artists. Now she lives and illustrates her own books in Moscow. She had been studying oil painting for a while in Fine Arts Academy, then she desired to start her career as children‘s books illustrator. Xenia likes to watch the surrounding world through the eyes of children. Animals and nature fascinate her as well. But her first and foremost inspiration are good books! Xenia has been working non-stop with Russian publishers for many years, but now, being a part of Advocate‘s team, she could illustrate children‘s books all around the world. It proves that Art has no boundaries, whatsoever. Xenia is proud to feel herself a part of other countries‘ culture background and it makes her immensely happy and satisfied.
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