®
About Advocate Art
Kate Johnson
Julija Lalina
Hannah Abbo
Natasha Harding
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 /
Ghislaine Gayyo
Amanda Hendon
Claire Gaukrodger
Lisa Musing
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STYLE GUIDE
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ALEC MACDONALD Born in London in the mid fifties, Alec has been involved with art, in one form or another, all of his life. A successful career in commercial art saw him working in some of the most prestigious advertising agencies and design groups in the capital. He paints in a traditional manner starting with a warm toned underpainting which is carried through to the finished work giving it a distinctive vibrancy and purity of colour.
02 AMANDA HILLIER
I grew up in Lincolnshire but now my home is rural Shropshire with my husband and children. I am inspired to reflect the nature and history that I’m surrounded by. I received my art education at Lincoln Art College and have worked in graphic design and illustration ever since. For many years in Nottingham I worked on packaging for the fashion industry utilising both graphics and illustration skills. Since moving to Shropshire I’ve used my surroundings to inspire detailed line and colour work for greetings and surface design. More recently I’ve enjoyed the graphic intricacy of a range of adult colouring books with Nature themes, that I have had the pleasure to be part of.
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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!)
50 x 69 mm Artwork MUST be at least 600DPI
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ANDREW SMITH
FORENAME SURNAME 38 x35mm Your profile photo must be at least 300DPI
Andrew Smith graduated in Graphic Design and Illustration from Liverpool University and has built up a career as an illustrator, designer and typographer with lots of experience. While working in design studios he has developed the ability to tailor his work to suit a number of clients with various styles of artwork. Andrew paints digitally in a traditional style, but also likes to design more contemporary pieces.
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ANDY ROWLAND Andy has always loved drawing. One of his earliest memories is of his dad bringing home reams of scrap paper from the printers for him to use because he went through so much. Eventually he went on to study Illustration at Manchester Metropolitan University, where, during his second year he won the  Macmillan prize for the design and illustration of a children’s book. Since then he has worked freelance mainly on children’s books, illustrating over one hundred for many different clients.
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ANGELIKA SKUDAMORE Based in South London, Angelika has always loved drawing as her earliest memory is drawing with her dad. Growing up, she was obsessed with Beatrix Potter with her beautiful illustrations of cute fluffy bunnies and animals and always wanted to have the exact studio Beatrix had with her bunny sitting on her desk! 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 around her.
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ANNABEL SPENCELEY
My career began with a degree in Fashion, followed by a Masters in illustration....I hated sewing! My first job was in a publishers studio doing colouring books and encyclopedias, good for general knowledge. Then I went freelance with children’s books. I accidentally got into greetings cards by agreeing to cover maternity leave for a friend and I loved it. I prefer to work by being left alone with my pencils and paints and I like the feel of actual paint and paper, incorporating the accidental into my work. Inspiration can come from anywhere, magazine snippings, tv, random animals, random things in general, and cat videos.
08 ANT FOX
Ant was born in the Midlands in 1969. With poor eyesight as a child, as well as getting lost a lot, he developed a knack for taking mental fuzzy snapshots of the world to help him navigate. These mental images were then frequently scribbled onto paper, in an attempt to clarify the blurred scenes around him. Later studying fine art and sculpture at art school, Ant just wanted to paint pretty pictures. A need for food and rent, and an interest in computers led the twenty year old to a career in digital arts. Ant combined a skill set of digital mediums with the addiction to express the aesthetic visions in his head.
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ANTOANA ORESKI
Antoana is an illustrator from Croatia. She graduated from the School of Applied Art & Design in Textiles, but her passion from an early age was illustrating cute and whimsical characters. She thinks that exploring nature in her youth was crucial for developing her imagination. She loves playing with textures and patterns and combining hand drawn icons with digital. She really loves what she does and hopes it’s what she’s doing when she’s old.
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CHARLIE HADFIELD
As a child I was always drawn to pictures full of wonder, colour, and friendly characters. In my work I try to recreate images that resemble this. My love for art and design had never faded growing up, so I went on to study Graphic Design at university, playing with typography, illustration, animation, layout and much more. I get excited about pushing my boundaries and love experimenting with mark making to create unique textures which has allowed me to develop a fun illustrative style which.
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CHARLOTTE PEPPER
Charlotte grew up in sunny Staffordshire and spent much of her childhood drawing, painting, collaging and doodling. There was never any question she wanted a career in design. She studied Surface Pattern Design at Staffordshire University and has worked in the greeting card industry for 17 years. While she still likes to get messy with paint and glue, she prefers to work in Photoshop, while trying to maintain a fluid, natural feel to her work. She is often inspired by nature, whether that’s an amazing combination of color, or an interesting perspective or composition.
12 CHELLIE CAROLL
Ever since being able to hold chunky crayons and deface her bedroom walls with them, Chellie has loved to draw. After studying Applied Arts at the University of Derby and a brief spell working as a designer within the retail industry, Chellie turned to Illustration and hasn’t looked back.Chellie now lives in the Peak District with her partner and two children, working from her home studio, where she is surrounded by the beautiful, inspirational countryside and a plentiful supply of tea and biscuits.
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CHRISTINE SHELDON
Christine, born in Manchester, always loved to draw and, at the age of 3, painted her dad’s car for him, after which she was given a large supply of paper and pencils. She learned to scan sketches and draw/paint them up on a mac, which is still her method of choice 20 years later. She would describe her work as very versatile, quirky, whimsical, and contemporary, while having a more traditional soft and cute character style as well.
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CLAIRE MCELFATRICK
Claire grew up in Buckinghamshire, where she spent her childhood days doodling and painting surrounded by glorious countryside. She was never without her sketchbook and pencils and always dreamed of becoming an artist.Her world inspires her work; wherever she travels, she’s drawn to anything with pattern, interesting colours and texture. She loves pottering around vintage shops and keeps a close eye on trends. When she’s not designing, or running after her little monkeys, she loves to bake and indulge in her passion for films.
61 x 86 mm Artwork MUST be at least 600DPI
16 CLARE WILSON
86 x 86 mm
86 x 86 mm
Artwork MUST be at least 600DPI
Artwork MUST be at least 600DPI
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.
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CLAIRE PRYCE
I am a creativity junky who falls asleep with new ideas filling my head and awakes in the morning with the passion to go and make them happen! I studied art at Harrow College of Art. My artwork reflects my fascination with anything vintage and predominantly features old ephemera and vintage illustrations; in particular flowers, birds, butterflies and historic landmarks. I combine these with my own sketches and modern patterns where appropriate. A lot of my artwork is client driven as I am always up for the challenge of creating something new.
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DANIELA MASSIRONI Daniela was born in 1984 in a small town near Milan, Italy. Since she was very little her favourite pastime was sketching and doodling, giving life to the fantasy stories she had in her head. She studied Graphic Design in Milan and in London, where she lived for four years. 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.
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DAVID BROADBENT Born in the late 1970’s David is an illustrator and designer. He has worked for the last 15 years creating all manners of illustrations for companies all over the planet and beyond. He is originally from Yorkshire in the bleak North, and now resides in Brigthton in the South coast. He lives with 2 children, his wife and a hesitant whippet. Cycling, walking, driving and running around like most other humans do nowadays.
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DEBBIE EDWARDS
I grew up on a farm in Hastings Australia, with 300 Angora goats and a menagerie of other animals, including at one stage 5 cats and 4 dogs. Dinnertime was a little bit like the running of the bulls! I loved living in the country, but moved to Melbourne to study fine art and design. My favourite adventure was living in London for six years, where I met so many people from different parts of the world and was lucky enough to travel to many beautiful places in the UK and other countries. My illustrations feature flowers that came from Monet’s Garden, Egyptian Temples, Byron’s House, Madeira’s Flower Festival and Beatrix Potter’s Cottage. I love creating unique mixed media designs that contain hand drawn and digital illustrations with lots of colour and texture. I am constantly inspired by nature and love to potter around looking for flowers and foliage to draw. After 20 years experience as a graphic designer specialising in retail and illustrating at home, I get endless pleasure in creating concepts for greeting cards and surface design.
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DI BROOKES
Di grew up in a little town in Hampshire and has always loved to draw and paint since she was a little girl, making her school projects as colourful and artistic as possible. Her claim to fame was and still is having her picture shown on BBC’s Tony Hart’s Gallery when she was 11!She worked in the design industry for 15 years and recently became a freelance Illustrator inspired by her kids, flowers, butterflies, and anything that makes a decorative pattern. She likes to work with watercolour, pen & ink and Photoshop and would describe her work as classic, decorative and feminine.
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DUBRAVKA KOLANOVIC
Dubravka studied at Savannah College of Art and Design in the USA and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia, where she got a degree in a painting. Dubravka has designed more then 80 cards and posters for them. Dubravka’s work was awarded by the Oshima Museum of Children’s picture books in Japan . Her illustrations were also awarded and appeared in 3x3 , a magazine of contemporary illustrations. All her travels and time spent in such wonderful parts of the globe as the Amazon rainforest, African savannah, Borneo,Galapagos, the remote Pacific coral reef or Artic and Antarctica are a constant source of inspiration.
22 ERICA SALCEDO
I’m a freelance illustrator and I live in the peaceful town of Cuenca, Spain, where I was born in 1983. I completed a fine arts degree at the UCLM (University of Castilla la Mancha) and then decided to continue my education, going on to do a Master’s degree in graphic design and illustration at the UPV (Polytechnic University of Valencia). Since I graduated, I’ve been working as an illustrator with many different publishing houses around the world.
23 ERIN BROWN
Erin was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1990. She spent her childhood pouring over books that were full of quirky, colourful, ink splattered illustrations. She uses a mixture of watercolour paint and inks on watercolour paper. The inks she uses are highly pigmented acrylic inks, which have incredible colour, intensity and staining power. She also loves to experiment with glitter and metallic paints; anything that adds beautiful colours and textures to her work.
24 FAY MARTIN
My name is Fay Martin. I grew up in rural Gloucestershire in a small village close to the banks of the River Severn. I was fascinated by waterbirds from a young age, living so close to the wetlands at Slimbridge. I specialised in Illustration at the Falmouth School of Art and the Arts University Bournemouth. Today I live in Lichfield, Staffordshire where I’m totally immersed in my love for designing greeting cards and books for children and adults..
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FAYE BUCKINGHAM Faye is an illustrator and designer with 7 years in house studio experience. She has a massive passion for design and loves stationary! She has a varied style and enjoys working on different projects, she is up for any challenge! Faye loves to draw and let her imagination take over, creating fun character and prints influenced by the latest trends.
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26 FELICITY FRENCH
Having moved around a lot over the years, from the Orkney islands to Bournemouth on the south coast of England, Felicity’s love for the countryside and the coast inspires her illustrative style. She draws everything by hand and has a fine collection of pens! Her favourite things to draw include animals, birds and flowers, drawing inspiration from the outdoors and being surrounded by nature.
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FIONA OSBALDSTONE
Born and bred in Kent, I loved painting as a kid and used to paint my versions of the Disney Characters. I always wanted to do something with art and went to the Kent Institute of Art & Design to see what the possibilities were. I was inspired by the works of David Shepherd and Norman Rockwell for their detail and diversely different styles. I usually work in watercolour but can also do pencil or acrylics depending on what is required. My style is realistic, but not photo realistic, I just like it to look as it’s meant to be. My work includes natural history, botanical, people and scenes.
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FRANKIE VAN MOURIK
Hello! My name is Frankie and I live in the Lake District in the UK. I studied Graphic Fine Art at university and have since taken courses in surface pattern design and illustration. I love to create colourful, playful artwork and I’m always on the look out for the next trend. I like to learn new techniques and experiment with different media. I love my job - I always wanted to work from home and do something creative. When I’m not in my studio I enjoy running trails, parks and beaches with my border collie dogs Jip and Gerry.
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GARETH WILLIAMS
Gareth was born in Hillingdon, West London, but moved to South Wales when he was 2. At an early age he loved to draw. He quickly realised that his dream of becoming the first Welsh astronaut would be sidelined for his creative abilities and talents. 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.
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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. She also likes her illustrations to have their own textures, so she makes different textures from acrylics, gouache, pastels, and coloured pencils.
31 HANNAH WOOD
Hannah grew up in the Netherlands and Norway. Returning to England she studied politics and history at university, she finally saw the light and after a spell as a graphic designer followed her first love - illustration. Illustration styles and techniques never stand still and Hannah’s styles and techniques are always evolving. She lives in a little quaint village in the middle of england with 2 cats and an ever growing collection of 50s ephemera and cook books.
32 HARRISON RIPLEY
Born in Leeds I started my early career off in advertising and illustration lasting several years were I developed a vast amount of skills in commercial illustration. Following on from this I went on to work for Hallmark where for over a decade I was able to enhance my skills and develop many new styles, which proved to be a great foundation for my future work. After many successful years working with greeting cards I then decided to become a freelance illustrator to explore other avenue’s in commercial and fine art.
33 HELEN ROWE
My BA Degree was in Craft Pottery at Staffordshire University, I continued on there to do an MA in Ceramic Design for Production which led me into a 12 year career as a surface pattern designer in Stoke-onTrent. There came a point when I felt I needed a new direction in my life and I relocated back home to Wiltshire with my partner. I started to design and sell greetings cards under the brand name ‘Paper Garden.’ I also love creating puzzles and games and especially like illustrating the natural world. I work from my studio at home where I live with my partner and little girl. Apart from illustration I love walking in the countryside around us, gardening and pottery.
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HUI SKIPP
I am a London based illustrator and live with my little black cat (oh yeah, and my husband) on a little river island in the North East of London, where I often have to fight off geese to get to the front door! I was born and raised in Taiwan, where I graduated with a sculpture and fine art degree in Taipei. I also spent several years working in graphic design, greetings-card creation and TV set design.
35 ILEANA OAKLEY
Ileana was born in Farnborough, Kent and now lives in the lovely Georgian town of Stamford, Lincolnshire with her husband and son. Her love for drawing and painting led her towards the greeting card industry where she enjoys developing and experimenting with her painterly style, creating colourful patterns for religious artworks, cute whimsical characters and stylised scenes. She often finds herself creating festive designs all year round.
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ILIS AVILES
Ilis was born and raised in Mazatlan, Mexico, and now lives in Guadalajara, also in Mexico. Her favourite class at school was art; she loved illustrations in the books she would read and TV shows she would watch. Naturally, she went to the University of Guadalajara, where she studied to be a graphic designer. She is a creative person, always trying to make beautiful things and searching for things to inspire her. She finds her career fun and exciting and takes every project as a new challenge. In her spare time, she likes to watch movies, read, travel and shop for shoes!!
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JAMES NEWMAN GRAY Born and raised in Sheffield, I studied illustration at Wolverhampton University after a childhood spent sketching and painting. I went on to have a long career as an in-house illustrator for several greeting card publishers, working on branded characters and also on original illustration. Over the years, this taught me to develop many different styles and to work in many different media. Although a large part of my illustrations are done digitally now, I still like to do line-art in my sketchpad and get the paints out and make marks.
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JANE RYDERGRAY
I was born in Manchester and lived in the North West of England until I moved to Cardiff to study Surface Pattern Design where I won an RSA design award. Since graduating, I have worked freelance. Growing up, my favourite past time was drawing and painting and I have loved 1950’s design since a young age, My work, of which I love florals, is mostly hand drawn and then finished off in Photoshop.
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JASPERELLA APPLE
Jasperella Graduated from University with an Illustration Degree, and has since pursued a career in Designing and Illustrating Greeting Cards. Working with publishers such as Paper Magic, Paper Rose and Clintons, she is continuing to establish and grown her portfolio to the highest standard. She also enjoys expanding her creative portfolio by exploring other mediums such as self - learning Calligraphy, Knitting and Jewellery design, which in turn have influence her Card designs.
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JAYNE SCHOFIELD
I was born in Morecambe, by the sea in Lancashire, and after many years of travelling I came back to this area to raise my family. I now work as a freelance illustrator/designer from my studio at the back of our home. I produce my illustrations using a combination of traditional and digital collage techniques and like to mix textures, type and imagery to create playful and fun art.
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JEANNINE RUNDLE Jeannine has always had a passion for art and good design. She started her career working for a clothing company desiging babywear. After her children were born she decided to try her hand at freelance work. She has built up a portfolio of greeting card work. She has worked for various publishers and loves that she is able to reach a global market.
42 JENNY WREN
Jenny wren has created illustrations for various book publishers and loves to illustrate maps, busy scenes, and animals of all shapes and sizes. As well as producing artwork for book projects, Jenny also loves to design greetings cards, featuring fun characters, decorative florals or trend led icons.
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JIM MITCHELL
Jim has been producing commercial illustration work for many years. He has been an associate member of the Guild of Aviation Artists, and illustrated several books with aviation themes. The areas of his work expanded through the 1990s and up to the present day, including many jigsaws, children’s books, greetings cards, calendars and reference books on military uniforms. He tends to work in water-based colours, watercolour and gouache, building on that with coloured pencil and finally, pastels.
44 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. When Jo is not busy illustrating for my agents, she is also an art teacher for children and a private art tutor.
45 JOANNE CAVE
Joanne lives in Northamptonshire where she works from her home studio in a lovely rural village looking out over fields and drinking lots of Yorkshire Tea. She gained a First Class degree in Illustration in 2001, and in 2002 started a 12-year career at a major greeting card publisher here in Northamptonshire, where I started as an Illustrator and eventually worked my way up to Design Manager. go freelance in 2015.
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46 JULIA SEAL
Since 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. She has worked in the Greetings Card Industry and absolutely loves getting covered in glitter everyday. She now lives in a small village near Bath with her husband and two children, surrounded by books and inspiration.
47 KATHRYN SELBERT
Kathryn Selbert is a freelance children’s book illustrator currently living in New Haven, Connecticut, with her French bulldog, Margot. She earned her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her work is inspired by the people she meets in her everyday life, our colorful world, flora and fauna and having fun.
48 KATIE ABEY
Katie Abey is an illustrator human who lives in a teeny hobbit-like house in Derbyshire with a cat, a hedgehog and a husband. Her work provides illustrative doses of happiness and motivation along with a little dash of sarcasm. She likes using a lot of colour in her work and this love of colour is reflected in her brightly coloured studio space and her hair, which frequently changes colour to match its surroundings. When Katie is not drawing awkward cats and llamas she enjoys yoga, reading and referring to herself in the third person.
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KATIE SAUNDERS
The best part of Katie’s job is creating new characters from the top of her head; it’s where the magic starts when writing and illustrating. She loves to work with bold on trend colours, patterns and textures, and works digitally which she selftaught after leaving university in 2001. She likes to think that even though she works digitally it’s as close to hand drawn as possible using different bush tools just like pen and paper. She likes things to look cute but really quirky. Katie now lives in Kent with her two children and partner Graham and their three crazy cats. Her family is a great influence on her work.
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KIRSTI DAVIDSON Kirsti is an illustrator and surface print designer based in Brighton. After working in TV production for 10 years, she decided to realise her ambition of building a career out of my first love, drawing. These, along with sketching and doodling, are always the starting point for her new projects. She collects vast numbers of picture books under the guise that they are for her own children and she’s always striving to get the right shade of orangey pink into her work.
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LARA SKINNER
Lara was born and raised in Leicester and when she was 20 she moved to London to study Graphic Design/ Illustration at Camberwell College of Art. She’s always loved art, painting, drawing and making things since she was very young. She loves textures, layering and strong collage usually with a floral element. My work can look quite vintage, but with a contemporary bite to it. In her thirties, Lara moved back to Leicester and met her husband (for the second time - they had previously met at school when they were eleven) and now live in rural Lincolnshire.
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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. Over 15 years later she’s still doing her first love of creating artworks. Her inspirations come from anything and everything that’s aesthetically pleasing, especially the beauty of nature and all pretty things. When she’s not working I 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.
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LIZ YEE
Liz is an illustrator and designer born in Malaysia. She graduated from Malaysia Institute of Art with a major in graphic design worked at a gift and stationary company. Since getting married and having two daughters, she’s been working as a freelance designer from home. She decided to go freelance to focus on her own style. She works mainly on the computer and loves having the freedom to design, sketch, and paint watercolour illustrations. She is inspired by everything around her, such as beautiful flowers, gardens, birds, animals travelling and all seasons.
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54 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! Liza’s illustration style incorporates lots of colour, texture and detail.
55 LIZZIE PRESTON
Lizzie is a designer, illustrator and all round creative who was born and bred in Birmingham, UK. She has always had a love for all things design. From an early age of colouring in, to loving graphics and art at school to finally progressing to study BA Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent University. Upon leaving University, she started working at a greetings card company based in Northamptonshire, gaining masses of commercial experience. She has always worked in the design industry, however she is now following her freelance dream. Lizzie’s style is very versatile – she loves anything from doodles to laser cuts, graphic to hand drawn and have a real passion for typography and intricate illustration.
56 LIZZIE WALKLEY
Lizzie graduated with a degree in illustration in 2004 and has been lucky enough to have had a career as an illustrator ever since. Working in-house for greeting card companies for 10 years has taught her to be adaptable in style as well as the importance of sticking to briefs and working to tight deadlines. Since going freelance she has enjoyed working on a wide variety of projects, from children’s book and greetings card illustration to toy designing. She is hard working, reliable and endeavors to communicate at all stages of the brief. I work from my home studio in Gloucestershire and have a nice man and a little girl.
57 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! Animals, gardens and all things cute inspire Lizzy. She is also an avid collector of oddities & antiques and you’ll never see her without tea in hand.
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LOUISE ANGLICAS
Louise hails from Manchester, but now lives just down the road in the heart of the Potteries, Staf-fordshire with her partner and 2 young children. She graduated with a degree in Ceramics and Sur-face pattern, and started her career as an in-house designer at a tableware manufacturer. She loves surface pattern design, and illustrating characters are her passion. She feels very lucky to be able to illustrate and design for a living.
59 LOUISE PIGOTT
Louise works from my home studio in the Cambridgeshire countryside, having graduated with a First Class degree in Graphic Design and Illustration from De Montfort University in 2009. She particularly likes illustrating scenes from nature, making animal characters and creating atmospheric and detailed pieces with a strong colour palette.
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LUCY BARNARD
Lucy is from Cheltenham but now lives in Manchester with her husband and two children. After completing an art foundation course in Cheltenham and her Illustration degree in Exeter, she worked at various publishing companies in London before becoming a freelance illustrator. She works predominantly in acrylic paint and pencil crayon but also loves to use collage to add texture.
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LYNN HORRABIN
Lynn was born in Yorkshire, England into an art loving family. Painting and drawing was all she was really interested in as a child. After studying art then graphic design at Bradford Art College she joined a greeting card company where she worked my way up to the position of senior designer. She decided to go freelance in 2006 and has fortunately been kept pretty busy ever since. Lynn loves nature and being in her garden and often these themes carry over into her work.
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MALU LENZI
I was born in the countryside of Brazil in 1982 and I used to spend every vacation in Rio de Janeiro visiting more museums and paper shops than beaches - which probably explains my love for travelling and Art. After some travels, I’m currently living in Berlin. I’ve worked on many different creative jobs but in my 30s I decided to be THE creative and become a self-taught Illustrator. I’m sort of Cute Maker. I want to make people feel happy, playful and loved in a cute world.
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MARCELLO CORTI
Marcello Corti is an Italian artist, born in the beautiful medieval town of Bergamo in 1961. He comes from a family of artists, painters, sculptors and poets. Marcello’s eclectic talent finds its best expression in portraits. He has a special way of capturing on canvas the very soul of his subjects with swift and skillful paint strokes. In 1986, his long-standing passion for advertising and graphic design became part of his professional portfolio through contracts with major Italian companies. In 2006, he decided to return to his original passion for painting by combining it with his technological know-how, using Photoshop to create illustrations for paper stationery, picture books, gifts, household items. Marcello’s distinctive feature lies in his great knowledge and experience in printing.
64 MARTIN IRISH
I was born in the medieval town of Shrewsbury Shropshire, the birthplace of Charles Darwin. I studied illustration, firstly at Wrexham College of Art and also Falmouth College of Art on the beautiful Cornish coastline. These days my work is either computer generated or photographic, or I may mix it up a little and combine the two. I love the effects you can achieve with a computer. It gives me the ability to add that little bit of magic to an image, particularly with a Christmas card design. I like to take a traditional theme and than add a more contemporary twist to it.
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MARTINA HOGAN
From an early age Martina always loved to draw. Her favourite pastime was taking left over rolls of wallpaper and drawing on the back. She started my career as a childrenswear designer, this helped her gain the commercial awareness plus the understanding and importance of trends that is needed in the design business. However, she realised that something was missing. It was her roll of wallpaper and pot of pencils. So Martina decided to take the big leap into the world of freelance, armed with her roll of wallpaper or rather my Mac.
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MEL ARMSTRONG
Mel was born and raised in Wellington, New Zealand. Her love for art developed after studying graphic design and she was quick to realize that she needed to develop her passion for drawing, illustration and pattern design. Mel describes her style as quirky, fun, colorful and whimsical.
67 MICHAEL BUXTON
Michael is a designer with over ten years’ experience in the greetings card industry. He produces quirky, fun designs with an emphasis on humour and while his work is mainly digital, he likes to keep a loose, hand-drawn feel. He loves to create characters and will take any chance he gets to draw monsters, cats or monster cats.
68 MICHAEL CHEUNG
Michael was born in Hong Kong but has lived in the UK since the age of 4. He started his career in user interface design, varying from games to kiosk, web sites to CD-Rom. He likes the idea of creating mini artworks for the greeting card industry. So, he made a decision to become a freelancer 10 years ago designing greeting cards, but, predominantly, so that he could spend precious time with his 2 daughters and to be there to watch them grow up as it’s time that money can’t buy back.
69 MIKKI BUTTERLEY
Mikki studied Graphic Design at Blackpool College of Art and Design, and when on to work as a junior artist at a local greeting cards company. After learning the skills of emboss, die-cut and foil drawings she was allowed to progress on to colour work, and was soon painting pictures for a living. Two years passed and she decided to become a freelance artist. After some time in-house at Hallmark, Mikki decided to make a lifestyle change - less time travelling and more time with family, so it was back to freelance again, concentrating on greetings cards and book illustration.
70 MURIEL COURTOIS
I’m a french freelance pattern designer and illustrator. I used to work in-house for several years in the fashion industry, until I decided to do things differently. Now, early each morning, I go walking in a big park to begin the day with a big breath of nature. Only after, can I sit at my desk and begin work. I love both line work and textured watercolour designs. I use a mix of hand painted watercolours, inks, pencil crayons which I then compose using digital techniques.
71 NICOLA EVANS
After completing a BA (Hons) Graphic Design and Advertising, specialising in Illustration Graphics, Nicola’s career began as an Illustrator. Her passion for experimenting has enabled her work to continually evolve and Nicola quickly discovered a talent for painting with oils. Working from her garden studio, by the coast in East Sussex, where she lives with her husband and two children, provides her very own creative space where she can happily experiment with colours and textures, explore new techniques and materials and best of all, make as much mess as she likes!
72 NICOLA RABBETT
Nicola is a British Artist, Illustrator and Designer, who grew up in North Devon, surrounded by beautiful countryside and stunning coastline. There she developed a passion for fabric, pattern and above all, a love of colour. Colour and light are the most important qualities that influence every piece she creates. Within each artwork she tries to create an atmosphere or feeling, enabling the viewer to connect with a memory or perhaps be transported to the place depicted.
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73 NINA MASHA
Nina was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to the UK when she was 12. Since an early age, she has been interested in anything creative. Some of her very first memories as a child are drawing and making clothes for her dolls. After graduating with a textiles degree from Loughborough University, she started her career designing greeting cards in-house. Nina has since moved back to Tehran, where it is sunny all year round, and has started working as a freelance designer. The style of her work is a combination of hand drawn, photographic imagery and lots of different textures.
74 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. Over the years, she realised her natural inclination towards children’s art and since then, has been pursuing this passion to create colourful, whimsical art for the children’s market. She uses a lot of traditional sketching and painting skill 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.
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75 PAKO GARCIA
I am an art-loving-creative-by-nature graphic designer and illustrator. I was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, a magical place full of traditions that have inspired my work, which is characterised for gathering my knowledge with the fascination that that special place provides me whenever I go back. Nowadays I live in Mexico City, a surrealistic town that has printed its vibe on my designs by providing me novel elements that constantly develop my creativity.
76 PAULA DOHERTY
Paula Doherty was born and grew up in London and now lives in Reigate, Surrey, with a son, a dog and a cat. She began drawing from a very early age. Paula studied Illustration and Graphic Design at Chelsea School of Art and is a freelance Illustrator, Paper Cutter and fledgling Paper Engineer. She works in a variety of mediums depending on the work at hand. She likes travel, walking the dog and wine, not necessarily in that order.
77 PETER JOSEPH
Peter is an illustrator and designer with a BA Honours Degree in illustration who is fortunate enough to be able to get paid doing what he loves. He has been working in the creative industry for over 10 years and has gained much valuable experience working across a broad range of projects. The range of work Peter produces is diverse but always contains a strong element of the components that make up his work; colours, composition and FUN!
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PIMLADA PHUAPRADIT
Pimlada is an illustrator based in Thailand who has always loved to draw ever since she was a kid. She studied Textile Designs at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, before returning to Bangkok where she worked as a knitwear and freelance surface designer. Her love for drawing led her to pursue further training in narrative arts. She went to study illustration in New York and received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2011. Pimlada’s inspirations come from nature and organic forms of plants.
79 POPE TWINS
Liz and Kate have created art together since leaving Stafforshire University in 2001. They both gained a first class degree in Surface Pattern Design, a very broad course, which allowed each student to find their own strengths. Liz will stop in her tracks and stare at a bunch of street signs, a twisted telephone wire, a spar shop or a road marking..imagining them in her paintings, she does the smaller less obvious details. Kate will rummage charity shops for old fabrics, books, anything she can layer paint onto and collage into her work.
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RACHEL MCNAUGHTON
I am a Yorkshire lass born in Heckmondwike and brought up in the mill towns of the West Riding. I now live just north of Leeds in Bardsey, a small village near Wetherby. I have no training in art beyond O level. I spent too much time talking in class to be allowed to go on to A level! I paint mostly in watercolours and flowers are a favourite subject of mine. But I have had a go at all sorts of subjects from light aircraft to animals. I love painting the Yorkshire countryside and warmer lands too, although there isn’t a lot of opportunity for the latter!
81 RAY SHUELL
I was born in Manchester UK and had an interest in art from a very early age, selling my first painting to the milkman for a bottle of orange juice! I studied Graphic Design at Salford and painted mainly in watercolour for several years, I ran my own design business for many years before becoming a lecturer in Art at Burton College in Staffordshire. I have always loved teaching and this inspired me to move to France and set up my own Art school, where I teach people of all ages and try to inspire creativity in others.
82 REBECCA PRINN
Rebecca decided she wanted to create patterns from an early age, remembering wanting to design wallpaper, after being attracted to the bold graphic cat wallpaper her mum chose for her bedroom. Rebecca would describe her artwork as graphic, bold, with plenty of pattern. She embraces “happy accidents� as this often gives individuality and unpredictability to the work. She often draws her outlines with a fineliner on paper, and then manipulates, adds colour, and plays in repeats and overlays on the computer.
83 SALLY GARLAND
Sally was brought up in a small town in the Highlands of Scotland called Alness and studied Illustration at Edinburgh College Of Art, before moving to Glasgow where she now currently lives and work with her partner and young son. Her current influences include vintage picture book illustration from the 50s and 60s. Sally has had many years experience working as a children’s Illustrator and happily works both digitally and traditionally. Recently she has been enjoying experimenting with simple block printing techniques and watercolour.
84 SARA BREZZI
I’m Sara Brezzi, Italian surface pattern designer and illustrator, born and raised in a small town Poppi, near Florencewhere I still live with my partner and our little boy. My designs are hand drawn and then scanned in for processing and color management. I love creating colorful illustrations by combining cheerful and quirky elements to convey the positive vibe and spread the joy!
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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.
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SIMON MENDEZ
Simon Mendez was born in York and has always loved to draw. Although the majority of his work still concentrates on portraits and aspects of nature he enjoys Illustraiting many different subjects and developing different skills and styles in all media as well as recreating vintage and classic styles to help illuminate his interpretations in a visual explanation. Simon spends his rare time away from the drawing board with his kids colouring in and building stuff!
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87 SOPHIA TOULIATOU
Greek-born and Athens based artist, Sophia Touliatou, has studied Graphic Design, but works as an illustrator doing mostly children books-many of which have gained merits and awards. You can find her work all over the world. She’s always happier when a dog or cat is around and strongly believes that life begins after coffee.
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SOPHIE HANTON
From a young age, Sophie Hanton always had a pencil, crayon, or paintbrush in hand, always knowing she would follow a creative path. After graduating with a BA(Hons) in Surface Pattern from university, she worked on various projects whilst freelancing. Later, she joined a busy design studio, and after gaining lots of commercial design experience, she blossomed! Over ten years ago, she decided to become a selfemployed freelance designer/artist/illustrator.
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SUE DOWNING
Sue lives and works in a little eco house in Newcastle upon Tyne with her husband and two children. Since leaving Edinburgh College of art in the late 1990’s, she’s worked in house, on a freelance basis, as an illustrator, product/licensed character developer, a designer/maker for jewelry, greetings cards and wrapping paper, there is never a dull moment! Her inspirations are many - from knitted toys, Japanese design, and Scandinavian Chic to Modernism, Dick Bruna and Info graphics.
90 SUZANNE KHUSHI
Suzanne is a professional British designer and illustrator, who lives in the North of England. She graduated from the University of Huddersfield with a Masters in Spatial Design, studying interiors and textiles. She has since worked for many publishing houses creating designs for greetings cards, prints, stationery, ceramics, textiles and book illustrations. She works both digitally and traditionally with pencil and inks on paper. She enjoys surface pattern design and my hobbies include sewing and machine embroidery and hand printing on fabrics.
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TERESA BELLON
I was born in Albacete, Spain in 1987. I had a few years wandering about life; I was studying different things and doing drawings just for Mom and Dad, until I finally accepted my fate and took an Illustration Course in Madrid. As a result, I began working for national and international clients and had several exhibitions. My drawings mainly reference Portuguese and Nordic illustrators of children’s books.
92 VALERIE GREELEY
Valerie grew up in Bury, Lancashire and studied art at Manchester School of Art and Design, now known as Manchester Metropolitan University, where she gained a First Class BA Honours degree in textile design. She has lived and worked for most of my working life in the Staffordshire/Cheshire borders, an area of natural beauty and industrial heritage. Her inspiration comes primarily from nature. She have always enjoyed painting in detail; the tiny markings on a butterfly’s wing, the effect of sunlight on fur, dew droplets on a spider’s web are never ending source of fascination and delight.
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VERONICA VASYLENKO
I live and work in the small market town of Otley in West Yorkshire, surrounded by beautiful countryside. It is my daily inspiration. I love to draw and paint and graduated from Liverpool University with a BA in Graphic Design in 1980. Since 1986 I have worked as a freelance illustrator. My background is in greeting cards. When I am not working I love to cycle. I also like yoga, walking, reading and listening to music.
94 VICTOR MCLINDON
Victor hails from Bradford but currently resides in Skipton North Yorkshire – a near perfect small market town with plenty of raw material for traditional Christmas cards close at hand! You could say that Victory is an escapee from the world of advertising where he toiled after leaving Coventry Art College. Since going freelance he suddenly started working on a much better class of project and still get a thrill when he sees one of his works on sale in the shops!
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VICTORIA NELSON
Victoria, is a Bristish illustrator living and working in Italy. Before deciding to become an illustrator she worked for 7 years as a freelance conservator and restorer in the UK. She had no formal training as an illustrator but with some time and patience and a lot of hard work she managed to carve a niche for herself within the craft product and greeting card world. Victoria almost always works in watercolour or gouache and would describe her work as detailed and traditional but with a modern twist.
96 WILLIAM SIMPSON
William is an English artist that always had a passion for art and has been producing commercial artwork for many years. He tends to work in water-based colours and enjoys illustrating nature, winder landscapes and Christmas scenes.
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