MA CHILDREN’S BOOK
I L L U S T R AT I O N 2013
Cambridge School of Art MA Children’s Book Illustration Cambridge School of Art Anglia Ruskin University
Graduation 2013 The Gallery at Foyles (3rd Floor) 113-119 Charing Cross Road London WC2H 0EB Exhibition runs 4th – 9th February 2013 www.foyles.co.uk www.cambridgMAshow.com © All images and text copyright of the authors Cover illustrations and inserts by Daisy Hirst. Graphic design by Marta Altés.
Centre for Children’s Book Studies
Thanks to:
Labute Printers and
MA CHILDREN’S BOOK
I L L U S TR ATION 2013
MA CHILDREN’S BOOK
I L L U S TR ATION 2013
Welcome to the 2013 graduation book and exhibition of the MA Children’s Book Illustration course at Cambridge School of Art in Anglia Ruskin University. This has been a particularly memorable year for the course. We took a stand for the first time at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which led to a number of our students and graduates signing contracts with publishers from the UK, USA, Italy, France, South Korea and Taiwan. For the third year in succession the MacMillan Prize for Children’s Picturebook Illustration was won by a student from this course. The Waterstones Picturebook of the Year shortlist of six featured two of our very recent graduates, Marta Altés and Nadia Shireen. Nadia’s The Good Little Wolf (Random House) received an honorable mention in the fiction category of the Bologna Ragazzi Awards. The new longlist for the Kate Greenaway Medal features a number of our graduates and teaching staff. And finally, the course was shortlisted for a Times Higher Education Award in the category, Excellence and Innovation in the Arts. We are very proud of the achievements of our students and graduates and we present to you this year’s graduating cohort, a number of whom are already working with publishers. Professor Martin Salisbury Course Leader, MA Children’s Book Illustration martin.salisbury@anglia.ac.uk Pam Smy Senior Lecturer, Illustration pam.smy@anglia.ac.uk Cambridge School of Art Anglia Ruskin University
http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/ccbs.html
MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
STEVE ANTONY ELENA ARÉVALO MELVILLE SUZANNE BARTON HANNAH BEECH SARAH BELLISARIO VICTORIA BYRON JUE CHEN LAURA CRAGGS SARAH DEAKIN COURTNEY DICMAS JOHANNA FERNIHOUGH MARLENE GERLYNG TAMSIN GILBERT MARIE GRUEBER MOLIN HE BENJAMIN HILLMAN DAISY HIRST HANNAH HUTCHINGS HAZEL JENNINGS JUNGHA KIM LÊ THI MINH KHUYÊN BEN LEVITT MARGARÉTA MÁRTON MIKE MASON MEG McLAREN VALENTINA MENDICINO GEMMA O’CALLAGHAN EMMA RABY ANDREA RAMOS LARA ROBINSON jemima sharpe Hongsaphan Somboon (‘Hong’) VICTORIA TURNBULL CAROLINE TYE GEORGIA WARLEY-CUMMINGS EMILY WILKINSON SURAPA WONGKOVIT JIN CHO YOUN
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
STEVE ANTONY
STEVE ANTONY www.steveantony.com www.twitter.com/mrsteveantony steve@steveantony.com 07765787770
A passion for storytelling has remained at the core of my character throughout my life, but it was the MA in Children’s Book Illustration that has really enabled me to channel this passion. Since embarking on the MA course, I have enjoyed creating picture books that range from one about the Queen chasing her hat around London to one about a war between green lizards and red rectangles. Mainly, I aim to create picture books that are slightly ‘off the wall’, books that children will laugh at and adults will tweet about, but most of all, books that I enjoy. Last summer I signed with the Elizabeth Roy Literary Agency, and I look forward to developing my craft and having lots of fun along the way.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
ELENA ARÉVALO MELVILLE
ELENA ARÉVALO MELVILLE www.elenaarevalomelville.com studio@elenaarevalomelville.com +44(0)7785745391
I see a book as a multidimensional puzzle, one where the story sets the parameters within which a world emerges. I love creating images that bring about that world, conjuring it up through thorough research, technique experimentation and character development. I tackle final artwork very intuitively, and feel very passionately about colour and the depiction of emotion. I’ve drawn all my life but never as consciously as I have during this course. Loving science and art, I pursued Architecture in my native Guatemala and worked as a freelance artist in Barcelona and in England. I take great inspiration from Oli and Sylvia, who not only are my toughest critics at ages 8 and 3, but the best excuse to amass a vast children’s book collection. From the MA I take a compulsive sketchbook habit, a broadening of my understanding of the wider publishing world, an amazing grounding in the elements of picture book making and a most excellent group of friends.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
SUZANNE BARTON
SUZANNE BARTON bartontsme@hotmail.com I originally studied Psychology at University, but I wish I’d studied illustration instead. It took me 15 years to make good this mistake: I did a BA in illustration, and am now doing this MA. I have always drawn and painted, and I have long wanted to produce an illustrated book for children. It was only after joining the MA in Children’s Book Illustration that I found the advice and support both from tutors and students that has allowed me to realize that long held ambition. It was wonderful to work with a group of people who share my obsession with children’s books and I became utterly absorbed in the course and work. I have enjoyed every aspect of making a book from the excitement of the initial idea, through problem solving the story into pages, to best of all designing and making each picture. I have been influenced by looking at Japanese prints along with many illustrators from my childhood, including Brian Wildsmith and modern illustrators like Isabelle Arsenault. I love pattern and colour and drawing and also trying to make interesting shapes in designing pages. I like to combine drawing from observation and ephemera, using collage and decorative elements whilst retaining a freer drawn element. I am happiest when drawing, painting, cutting and sticking, watching an image take shape. My first picture book, The Dawn Chorus, is being published by Bloomsbury and I have learned a huge amount from working with the editors and designers there. I am hoping to build on everything I have learnt on the course, and in working with the publishers, as I work on future projects.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
HANNAH BEECH
HANNAH BEECH www.hannahbeech.posterous.com hello.hmbcreative@gmail.com
A Cornish girl down to my toes, I was lucky enough to grow up in a little village by the sea, spending a lot of time out on the cliffs with my loopy springer spaniel and my imagination for company. I still seem to get my best ideas when I’m outside, even though I’ve swapped the Cornish cliff tops for Cambridge’s commons and the sea for the River Cam... for now! I’ve wanted to do all sorts of things “when I grow up”; a teacher, an actress, a JCB driver (as you do...), but these days I mostly concentrate on not growing up! Art was something I always loved and did for the joy of it - crunch time came when choosing my GCSE subjects. If it hadn’t been for my mum sticking her nose in, I might’ve dropped drawing in favour of the ‘more sensible’ Modern History... (thanks Mum, I’m really glad you’re not sensible). For me, storytelling is a wonderful, joyful, innately human thing; so spending the last couple of years studying and making visual stories has been fantastic! I can’t wait to find out what comes next...
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
SARAH BELLISARIO
SARAH BELLISARIO sarahbellisario.wordpress.com pylie@hotmail.com 07872 577933
Getting lost in a good book, whether it be diving into a great story or losing myself in the detail of a beautiful illustration has always been one of my favourite preoccupations. Having the chance to put my own words into stories and my own pen to paper to create children’s books on this course has been a real adventure into my imagination. I studied media at Westminster, worked in editorial, was a resident artist and am now a teacher, artist and a mother. Whenever possible I am also a far flung traveler and hoarder of objects and scrappy travel journals. I am drawn to colour and revel in fine line and detail, taking particular inspiration from Japanese art and patterns from all cultures. I like to create my work with a sense of spontaneity, creating dozens of colourful backgrounds before I choose which ones to work into, creating images with a mix of different media. I also love writing and am enjoying flexing my story-telling muscles. This course has enabled me to fully immerse myself in the joyous realm of children’s books and now I hope to create books that young children can enjoy getting lost in.
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VICTORIA BYRON
MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
VICTORIA BYRON www.vickybyron.com vicky.byron@blueyonder.co.uk 01392 274032
I spent much of my early years, playing with pets in a large, safe, leafy garden, where my imagination was allowed to work overtime. A ladybird suddenly taking off into the air or the friendly face on an apple are my earliest memories. As I got older I transferred my imagination into drawing, telling my own stories with tiny characters. These early experiences have been the foundation of my illustration work and I love drawing the natural world and animals. My degree in Fine Art was very conceptual and allowed me to tell stories in a different way. After a PGCE course, I went on to teach art in a comprehensive school where I enjoyed helping to inspire young people. After this I did some short courses in Children’s Book Illustration before applying for this MA. The MA course has been a fabulous experience. I have enjoyed drawing for pleasure and look forward to working as an illustrator and making stories for children.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
JUE CHEN
JUE CHEN cj5186@hotmail.com
I was born in Zhejiang, China. I started to learn painting when I was a child. I worked in a Japanese game company in Shanghai for a period of time after I graduated from the Animation Department in China Academy of Art. But I gradually found that I prefer independent creation to teamwork, I would like to make artwork according to my own ideas. Illustration is a very attractive industry. I am a person with childlike innocence, so I chose to study the MA course of Children’s Book Illustration in Cambridge School of Art. I was taught by the excellent teachers in the school, and I benefited a lot from them. I feel that I have improved much in both painting skill and originality, which strengthened my confidence to become a children’s illustrator. And I also realize that the creative process of illustration is a source of inexhaustible fun and full of challenges. Outstanding works with commercial value can not be created without a good idea. I hope that I can publish a series of children’s books in the future.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
LAURA CRAGGS lauracraggs@hotmail.com
LAURA CRAGGS
I am a writer from Sydney, Australia. Illustrations have always played an important role in the development of the stories I want to tell: I like to see for myself how characters look, how the rooms in their houses fit together, and how their machines might work. For a long time I’ve wanted to develop this skill so that my potential readers can benefit from these illustrations as well as me. After all, there are some things that words just can’t say, and having some skill with both word and imagery means I can serve my stories better. These stories have been fed in general by my reading and life experience, and in particular by my first degree. This was a BA at the University of Sydney and it encompassed everything from linguistics to history to psychology to music to science. I am well armed with knowledge and ideas for both fiction and non-fiction books, and I’m looking forward to marrying my academic pursuits with my artistic ones.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
SARAH DEAKIN
SARAH DEAKIN www.sarahdeakin.com sarah@hardwickstudios.com
I can’t imagine my life without drawing - it is something I have to do! I have always made pictures for pleasure and for a living as a pleasurable consequence. As a young mother I sold my artwork through local galleries, drawing whenever I could and sometimes finding a work in progress had been completed by a helpful son or copied onto a blank wall by an equally enthusiastic daughter! My development to an MA is as astonishing to me as it is exciting. I studied Graphic Design as a mature student and then entered the world of educational publishing, working as an in-house illustrator, permissions editor, art editor, graphic designer and picture researcher. Since then, I have balanced a busy freelance career with my studies and home life. My work in the industry has given me a valuable insight into the publishing process but I am also aware of the commercial pressures and the inevitable impact this has on creativity. While studying for my MA I have allowed myself to create without these constraints. My biggest hope is that when others see my books they will share the joy I feel when writing and illustrating for children.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
COURTNEY DICMAS
COURTNEY DICMAS www.courtney.dicmas.wordpress.com courtney.dicmas@gmail.com I earned my BA in Studio Art from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2006. Afterwards, I left my home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for a four-year journey of teaching ESL in South Korea and Iraqi Kurdistan. This time opened my eyes to the hilarity and beauty of great picture books and set me on my path to the wonderful Cambridge School of Art! When I’m drawing, I try to let the character come out through my heart as well as my hands – that way the work contains a freshness and warmth I hope readers will enjoy
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
JOHANNA FERNIHOUGH
JOHANNA FERNIHOUGH jofernihough.blogspot.co.uk jojofernihough@gmail.com My mother was an illustrator, so I lived and breathed art. We would spend hours in the children’s section in the local library, I would be busy curling my fingers through Eric Carle’s ‘The Hungry Caterpillar,’ or laughing at Briggs’s grumpy ‘Father Christmas,’ whilst my mother loved Aldridge and Rackham. After years of doodling, daydreaming and not understanding fractions, I studied at Central St Martin’s where I gained my degree and post graduate diploma in illustration. Graduating in 1994, I have worked as a freelance illustrator since. Four years ago I began experimenting with children’s illustration and loved it. Living in Cambridge I was incredibly fortunate to have the MA on my doorstep and realising that creating a children’s book is not as easy as it may first appear, especially to someone who creates mainly one-off images, I enrolled and have not looked back. I love using colour and humour and I am never happier than when immersed in the world of children’s illustration, it is my sanctuary and antidote to living in the not-quite-so-colourful grown up world.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
MARLENE GERLYNG
MARLENE GERLYNG www.mallamagart.com mgerlyng@gmail.com 07402811819
I am originally from Norway and moved to England to do my bachelor degree in Illustration at Falmouth University College, where I graduated in 2006. After graduating I returned to Norway where I continued to use my skills and knowledge teaching at a foundation art school, which ultimately enabled me to run my own art courses for younger children. Since starting the MA I have been able to focus on my main interest creating picture books. I have found Cambridge and its surroundings to be an inspiring environment in which to work and live. I do my utmost to create atmosphere and energy in my artwork by exaggerating perspectives and using dramatic light. I enjoy the process of working using traditional media but I have found during my time on this course that I am now able to work digitally whilst maintaining a traditional aesthetic. I now look forward to continuing with illustrating picture books, and I am excited to see where it will take me in the future.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
TAMSIN GILBERT
Prior to this course I studied Printed Textiles in Manchester. After a PGCE I went on to teach Art in primary and secondary education. This career took me to interesting assignments in northern Italy, Leeds and Bolton. Studying the freedom and innocence of animals has allowed me to explore different facets of human behaviour. Through my images and stories I want to make you smile and provoke the feeling of ‘I know someone like that’. All my animal characters are people I know!
TAMSIN GILBERT tamsingilbert.wordpress.com tamsingilbert@hotmail.co.uk 07803616121
As a child I wanted to be an Olympic athlete or an artist. Sadly, the former never came true. Now that I have finished the course I am determined to pursue my dream as an illustrator and picturebook maker. The course stimulated me to experiment with printing techniques I had not used before. I intend to continue this voyage of discovery and use different processes to create many images and stories. Beautiful images, hopefully.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
MARIE GRUEBER
MARIE GRUEBER www.illustriousdesigns.co.uk marie@illustriousdesigns.co.uk My artistic path has been very colourful. I originally trained as a primary school teacher in the Czech Republic, specialising in fine art. After several years of working with children, my fate carried me to the UK where I pursued a career of a graphic designer, utilising my professional skills in business and the commercial world. My creative work is full of play. Illustration for me is a way of playing with objects on paper and screen, using a combination of traditional and digital media, such as, screen printing, drawing, painting, collage, vector illustration and photography. That’s why I chose to explore the theme of typography, you can always discover something new in the familiar shapes. Letters represent words, thoughts, objects and living creatures. Letters are characters. Letters love having fun. They talk to me, I listen and bring them to life. My hope is to share my inner world with children. To encourage children to play more freely, pick up a pencil and create art of their own.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
MOLIN HE
MOLIN HE I studied Art Design (Fashion Design) part-time in China. Actually, molinhe@hotmail.com this was the first time I began to draw anything, but I loved it. In my spare time, I try to create stories and draw them. It is wonderful and has added so much happiness and richness to my time. I now understand what it is that I am really interested in and want to do after I graduate. I am so happy to come to Cambridge School of Art to learn children’s book illustration. This course is so exciting and challenging to me. Many more new things get into my brain and inspire me to create my work. The people surrounding me are so brilliant and passionate. We share our works and talk together and I learn more. I love what I do, and I will work hard to be an illustrator - to draw stories for children.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
BENJAMIN HILLMAN
BENJAMIN HILLMAN untorch.tumblr.com
As a child I never drew. My early childhood was spent travelling the world with my parents, reading Shakespeare, and falling from my bike. It was only rather later at the age of 18 that I decided I would teach myself to draw -It wasn’t long after that I realised it wasn’t quite such a simple undertaking. In 2011, I was incredibly proud to receive my BA from the Cardiff school of Art and Design, where I first encountered people who were really passionate about pushing the bounds of Illustration as an evolving and dynamic sea of visual languages, and at their suggestion I embarked on the MA at Anglia Ruskin. Discovering the work of contemporary narrative illustrators like Emmanuel Malin, Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim, was a huge turning point for me. Here were creatives who weren’t as concerned with isolating concentrated little bursts of narrative as they were with the fusing of a story with its environment, obsessively building in rich, detailed worlds that endure beyond the pages of their stories. The MA has been an amazing opportunity to develop my own worldbuilding skills and start to stage stories more effectively within those worlds, and I’m excited to apply those skills further on a wide variety of projects beyond the course.
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DAISY HIRST
MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
DAISY HIRST www.daisyhirst.com me@daisyhirst.com 07961982783
I have wanted to write and illustrate picturebooks since before I could write – for a while I thought I could write without pictures and tried quite seriously to be a poet. I studied English and Creative Writing at Warwick but never stopped reading picturebooks or doodling – there is nothing like having to write poetry to make me draw llamas. I think children’s books are as important an art form as any other and demand as much passion and care, so it has been wonderful to work with tutors and students who feel the same; our visits to the mindexpanding Bologna book fair have been incredibly inspiring too. Everything begins with tiny pen and ink drawings in my sketchbook – recently I have been using screen-printing to transform these into bold picturebook and baby-book illustrations. Winning the Lara Jones award in the Macmillan Prize for The Runaway Baby was very exciting. I see no reason to stick to one medium or age-range though: I hope to go on finding new ways to create pictures and books. Making stories is a sort of magic and I am always amazed when it works – I would just like to carry on please.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
HANNAH HUTCHINGS
HANNAH HUTCHINGS hannahhutchingsart.blogspot.co.uk hhutchings06@hotmail.co.uk
After studying for a degree in fashion and textiles, I fell into a job at a local hospital, working as a play assistant on the children’s ward. I spent many happy days there getting covered in glitter and glue. I even found some time to help the children do some artwork too! Whilst making poster-paint butterflies and tissue paper flowers was thoroughly enjoyable, I was hardly pushing myself creatively. Embarking upon this MA course has let me focus once again on my own artistic development, and has also allowed me to retain a sense of connectivity with the intuitive, unhindered creative instincts of youngsters such as those with whom I worked. If I’m honest though, I haven’t really left the ‘cutting and sticking’ behind me. I have continued creating paper-folded and collage projects alongside my more traditional drawing work. Similarly, the use of textiles has woven its way back into my creative process through the use of a stitched line and in the creation of and three-dimensional characters. I hope that I can continue developing my skills and that this opportunity can provide me with a platform to present my work to children and inspire them in their own creativity.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
HAZEL JENNINGS
HAZEL JENNINGS www.thehiveartiststudios.moonfruit.com hazelnut81@gmail.com 07961938358
With a life filled with books, artwork, a career with children and parents who started out life as librarians – it is no wonder that I ended up studying children’s illustration. Throughout my MA journey I have had my eyes opened to a wonderful world of creativity and inspiring illustrators. I have explored my use and love for texture and discovered the world of printmaking. I am home. Inspired by textures, surfaces, found objects and nature I have been developing works which are mysterious and evocative. I have explored various techniques such as monotype, lino, woodblock and screenprinting. I enjoy using a combination of original prints, digital techniques and mixed media. Using these printed textures in my narratives, I produce atmospheric and thought-provoking images and characters. Armed with my new passion for mark-making using print, collage and design on the page, I am ready for my next chapter...
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
JUNGHA KIM
JUNGHA KIM
www.jungha711.blog.com jungha711@gmail.com I have painted for a long time. From the time my mum took me to the painting school at my age 5, my training in painting began. I was a scatterbrained child so I couldn’t concentrate on anything for several minutes, but painting was different. Painting was the only activity that didn’t make me feel bored. Growing up I loved to read books as well. Since then, painting and reading became my favourite hobbies for the rest of my life. I studied painting at Boston University in the US. At the time I knew about Children’s Book Illustration. When my professor showed us his daughter’s picture book, I predicted that I would do it in the future. After my children entered school, I started to paint for picture books. In the Cambridge School of Art, I realised that painting was happiness. I used to work with Korean fairy tales, and enjoyed interpreting stories. I was so excited to create a new book through my own pictures. Working is not easy but I still love to paint. I dare to say that the best work I have ever done is having my children and the second best work is becoming a painter.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
LÊ THI MINH KHUYÊN
Lê Thi Minh Khuyên www.khle.net lethiminhkhuyen@gmail.com I was born in Vietnam and when I was nine my family moved to Poland. The fact that I grew up in two completely different cultures had a big influence on my work. After graduating at New Media Arts in Poland, I wanted to come back to the thing that I love the most: illustrating. From my BA I gained the experience with various types of media such as Computer Graphics, 3D modelling, as well as traditional media such as printmaking, acrylics, pastels, coal, ink and pencil. During my MA Children’s Book Illustration, I have opportunity to try to work with watercolours and cut- outs. Due to my background, I am interested in researching various cultures, their similarities and differences, as well as their traditional artwork. In the future, I want to be able to gain more experience and still be enthusiastic in exploring new ways to express my inner self.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
BEN LEVITT
BEN LEVITT www.benlevitt.co.uk mail@benlevitt.co.uk I spent many years as an artist, creating graphics for videogames before starting, with a mixture of pleasure and trepidation, the BA in Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. On completion of this course it seemed a natural progression to take the MA in Children’s Book Illustration. During the past year I have found that the MA course has given me the opportunity to pursue all the facets of children’s book illustration that are important to me: telling a story, passing on some educational content, not being patronizing or talking down to children, and most importantly of all having fun and instilling a love of art in future generations while teaching them something in a pleasurable way. This has enabled me to combine my wide range of interests across the arts and sciences in a way that I never imagined possible a year ago. I hope that people will enjoy the images as much as I have enjoyed creating them.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
MARGARÉTA MÁRTON
MARGARÉTA MÁRTON www.martonmargareta.com martonmargareta@gmail.com +44 (0) 7877 898 463
The best of my work always had and continues to have a strong graphic feel to it and probably this is the reason I have a passion for relief printmaking. I love to explore different topics through this medium. My final project is focusing on one of my favourite subjects, the life of a garden through the seasons: birds, insects, plants, flowers... all sorts of organic shapes and forms, enjoyable compositions and colours in the form of a dictionary. As I come from a multinational parentage, I’ve recognized the beauty of different cultures and languages from a very early age. To express my appreciation towards this beautiful variety that exists and enriches our lives, I set my heart onto creating a bilingual picture dictionary for children. I hope you enjoy looking at my work and to find out more about it you can visit my website.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
MIKE MASON
mIKE MASON www.mikemasongraphics.com mike@mikemasongraphics.com 07858 365522 As a young child, I only ever wanted to be three things when I grew up. An artist, an athlete … and an astronaut!
GEMMA MERINO gm_ark@yahoo.com
I have always loved to draw, spending many happy hours creating new characters and imaginative worlds for them to explore. Comics, pop-ups and picture books were a major influence on my work throughout my school years. After completing a foundation course at Epsom Art College, I drifted away from my creative studies to focus on athletics. My ultimate ambition was to compete at the Olympics! Rather more modestly, I enjoyed many years representing my club, county, and the South of England. My creativity continued to bubble away under the surface however, and in 2010 I was accepted onto the MA course in children’s illustration. Here, I have explored my love of the creative and the technical to develop my own unique illustrative language - combining hand-drawn illustration and elaborate paper engineering. I’m not sure I have ever really grown up? I still love to read picture books, to eat lots of chocolate, and I still love to run just for the fun of it! But most of all, I love to draw and to create elaborate and fantastical picture books for all to enjoy. Oh, and I’m still working on becoming an astronaut!
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
MEG Mclaren megmclarenillustrates.blogspot.com megmclaren@yahoo.co.uk
MEG McLAREN
I was born, raised and trawled through every museum and art gallery in Glasgow. I studied Theatre Design and Production, specialising in set design, and was moulded, alongside my fellow classmates, into one of a rare, practical, resourceful breed. We simultaneously drilled, painted, sewed, sawed, scavenged, and I graduated as a fully fledged jack of all trades. This served me well over many years as an architectural model maker, and now my background in theatre design has filtered into my illustration work as a love of composition and page design. A year or so ago I would have described myself as a wordy person as there’s little I love more than a good first sentence. What has surprised me most about doing this MA is that I’ve finally learned to tell stories without my beloved words. Now what I enjoy most about picturebooks is that delicate balance between the words and pictures which make them so unique.
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
VALENTINA MENDICINO
VALENTINA MENDICINO chigaia.blogspot.it Kygaya@gmail.com 0044-755-4760072 (UK) 0039-392-1136261 (IT) I am the result of a pleasant afternoon of love between two high school students in 1982. Since I was a child, during my mum’s lectures at the university, I preferred to draw rather than listen to the lectures of civil law. Jurisprudence wasn’t for me. Then, attending a high school that focused on science, I understood that numbers weren’t for me either. I liked reading comics and children’s books, watching animations and using the computer, and since I had a gift for drawing, I found my path. Attending the European Institute of Design in Milan and graduating in illustration and animation. In 2005 I started to work as a freelance illustrator, gaining experience in advertisement and publishing. Since joining the Plum Pudding illustration Agency in London, specialising in children’s books, my interests began to focus in this direction. I decided to leave Italy and move to study in Cambridge. This experience changed my life and I discovered a new dimension to the art world that I had never known before. The U.K offers me a great opportunity to delve, not just into the world of children’s books and illustration, but also into all the culture and traditions of this country, and I know whatever may be, everyone will live happily ever after!
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MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
GEMMA O’CALLAGHAN
GEMMA O’CALLAGHAN www.gemma-ocallaghan.co.uk gem_ocallaghan@yahoo.co.uk 07944 841381
I studied animation at Southampton, going on to work as a freelance animator. Over time I began to realise that I enjoyed the process of drawing and creating single images more than the actual animation, and as a result decided to pursue my interest in becoming an illustrator. I applied to the MA Children’s Book Illustration course to help develop my skills and give my personal work more direction. My studies in the last year and a half at Cambridge have led me to discover exactly what I would like to portray in my work: to create illustrations that evoke a sense of time and place. On the course I learned traditional printmaking techniques in the excellent print room at Anglia Ruskin. This has really changed how I work and given me a new way to illustrate stories, leading me to set up my own screen-printing workshop at home. The input from established working illustrators, as well as my fellow students, has been truly inspiring and invaluable, encouraging me to have confidence in my own ideas. I love stories that draw on the past and historic events. I am particularly interested in wordless narratives and sequences that portray an atmosphere or feeling and will continue to develop this further in my future work.
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EMMA RABY
MA CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATION
EMMA RABY www.emmaraby-illustrator.co.uk emmaraby.blogspot.co.uk
For as long as I can remember I have always loved reading books and reading. I studied for a degree in Design: Illustration at the University of Plymouth. Here I explored folk tales and realised my potential as a children’s illustrator.
emmaraby@hotmail.com Whist studying for my MA in Children’s Book Illustration I have focussed on illustrating for older children. I particularly like drawing in black and white and I have an interest in stories that have a strong connection to the landscape. I have a fascination for historical subjects both fiction and non-fiction particularly stories combining fact, fantasy and folklore.
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ANDREA RAMOS www.lalobodrila.blogspot.com aeronene@gmail.com
ANDREA RAMOS
The first toy I ever had was a plastic book to take into the bath. After that, I have constantly been surrounded by books. I penned my first picture book when I was six, in a Minnie Mouse notebook, and years later I proceeded to pursue a career in Illustration. I followed my BA with one in Journalism, working as a graphic designer in my spare time, only to realise halfway through it that what I really wanted to do was tell stories, which prompted me to quit school and move to Cambridge for the MA. I feel the course has greatly expanded the scope of my abilities and allowed me to develop myself as an artist and a storyteller. I strive to create characters that are expressive and live beyond the page, and that have a strong anchor in real life events, people and emotions. I have finally begun to develop a visual language with which I can identify and I continue to find new ways of telling my stories. I feel very confident and grateful in that I am on my way to my dream to becoming a published author and illustrator.
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LARA ROBINSON
LARA ROBINSON lararobinsonillustrates.blogspot.co.uk lararobinsonart@hotmail.co.uk
Prior to undertaking this MA I studied Fine Art at Winchester School of Art where I spent my days constructing black holes and filtering night skies. Alongside this I began creating books that detailed universal formations and wormhole journeys, and my love for narrative and storytelling began to develop. I then went on to become an artist’s assistant, painting spots big and small for hours on end. This fuelled my desire to begin creating my own artwork and I felt this course would be the ideal setting to allow my imagination free reign once again. Joining the course made me rediscover printmaking and my images are created predominantly through screen-printing, with the occasional dabble in mono-print and lithography. My work can sometimes split opinion as to the appropriateness of its content but as long as it’s never described as mundane then I am happy to keep drawing until my fingers seize up and eventually drop off.
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jemima sharpe
JEMIMA SHARPE jemimasharpe.blogspot.co.uk jemimasharpe@hotmail.co.uk
I come from a creative family background. I studied fashion design at The London College of Fashion, before working in design studios in London and New York. When I pursued my interest in illustration, my lifelong passion for all things vintage and my love of texture and pattern led to a use of traditional print methods such as screen printing and stone lithography. I have discovered that I really enjoy storytelling and the way that text and illustration can combine to express a subtle and gentle humour and tell a many-layered story. My first book, Mr Moon Wakes Up, will be published by Child’s Play in 2013.
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Hongsaphan Somboon (‘Hong’)
Hongsaphan Somboon (‘Hong’) hongworks.wordpress.com sb.hongsaphan@gmail.com Most of my life, I have been living in Bangkok, Thailand. I graduated in history and linguistics. I am also interested in art, learning about media and another important means for expressing human thought and emotion. As I remember, I enjoyed reading books through pictures and words since a young age. Coming across many inspiring books, I gradually see how powerful storytelling and illustration can affect or help both children and adults in self-realization and life learning. The form of the picture book itself is also a great medium for carrying intellectual messages to communicate with people in a way which can be easily understood. With experienced tutors and helpful classmates, the MA course provided opportunities for me to observe the real world more carefully, to study relations between words and pictures, and to experiment with various media, as well as experiencing freedom in self-expression. With skills and knowledge I have learned, I hope to become a good creator, author and illustrator, who creates touching, informative, and thought-provoking books for readers of all ages to understand and appreciate.
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VICTORIA TURNBULL
VICTORIA TURNBULL www.victurnbull.com vic@victurnbull.com 07811 004204 Like most children, I loved to draw. Unlike most children, I never stopped. This fascination with drawing and a desire to convey ideas from my imagination, led me to the MA in Children’s Book Illustration. The course has allowed me to explore the way I make pictures and realise their potential for storytelling.
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CAROLINE TYE
CAROLINE TYE ct-sketchbook.blogspot.com studio@carolinetye.co.uk 07879 676421
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to read and draw. My home is heaving with beautiful picturebooks. I’ll happily while away an afternoon thumbing through an old favourite, or browsing the shelves for a new treasure. One day I hope to add a book of my own to the collection. As a graphic designer and illustrator, I like to use a combination of traditional and digital media. Starting with pencil, paint or print I render the final image in Photoshop. I enjoy the flexibility of working this way, using subtle textures and pattern to compliment the original drawing. In 2011, I was shortlisted for the Macmillan Picturebook Prize. This honour inspired me to follow my dream with even greater enthusiasm. I’m passionate about storytelling and would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other picturebook addicts.
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GEORGIA WARLEY-CUMMINGS
GEORGIA WARLEY-CUMMINGS www.flickr.com/photos/gwarleycummings/ gwarleycummings@gmail.com I graduated from Cambridge School of Art with a Bachelors’ in Illustration. I felt it was only natural that after developing a taste for narrative projects that I should investigate the Children’s Book Illustration MA. I am drawn to stories that have a sense of the fantastic and humour about them through their characters and settings, from dragons and folk tales to anthropomorphic animals. For me, the best picture books are the ones that capture a mood, and create a world that utterly convinces you it’s real, yet the illustrations appear so simple. This can happen when translating my drawings into linocuts, both as a result of the tools themselves and the textures they can give. I like applying colour to my linocuts using different techniques ranging from collaged colour paper, gouache, watercolour, mono-printing and then combining them digitally. I want to thank the tutors and students on the MA for their honesty and guidance from the many critiques they have given.
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EMILY WILKINSON
EMILY WILKINSON www.emily-wilkinson.com emily-wilkinson@hotmail.co.uk
I have always loved creating, or “making stuff ” as I more than likely called it when I was a child. I have fond memories of times spent drawing, painting, baking, making hats for my teddies and sewing with Nan, combined with gazing at picture books and animations. What did I want to be when I grew up, though? I just wanted to be a Mermaid! Luckily the desire to be an underwater person dwindled and I took a more sensible option. When graduating from the BA at Cambridge School of Art in Illustration and Animation, I had developed a bigger appetite for a more tangible craft that had been overshadowed by my learning of the digital aspects of animating. What I had seen from the MA and the picture books I discovered through the years really inspired me, so I went for it. My time on the MA has been invaluable. I have endeavoured to improve in a number of practices including linocut and collage. Working through multiple crafts means I now understand my work in varying visual languages at the service of my projects, but still with a principal sense of imagination and character. I hope to carry on creating full-time, and no longer having to sneakily doodle on post-its in an office somewhere.
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SURAPA WONGKOVIT
SURAPA WONGKOVIT (VICTORIA) victoria_yammy@hotmail.com
I was born in Thailand. One of my pleasures is reading children’s picture books. I always loved looking at book illustrations as I admired artists’ talents and the beauty of their works. Therefore, I chose to study Children’s Literature for my bachelor degree and found that I enjoyed creating my own stories as well as illustration. After graduation, I decided to study children’s book illustration at Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University. The MA course gave me the chance to meet renowned tutors, passionate classmate and to experiment. I like to experiment with watercolour, colour pencils and ink. I prefer using watercolours and inks as they allow me to create a playful and lively look. I also like using quick line drawing and body language to express characters’ feelings. I want to use these skills to create books that make children as happy as I was when I was a child.
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JIN CHO YOUN
JIN CHO YOUN www.jinchoyoun.com jinchoyoun@hotmail.com +44 794424 0389
I was born in Seoul, and I moved to London ten years ago to practice art and design. During those years, I obtained a BA in Experimental Illustration at London College of Communication and an MA in Communication Design at Central Saint Martins. I have also worked as a freelance illustrator for clients in the UK, Austria and Korea. My first children’s book about Buddhism was published in Korea. The experience of creating a children’s book was highly satisfying. It gave me more space to express my interpretation of the subject not in one image but throughout the whole book, from front cover to back cover. This finding led me to research further into children’s picturebookmaking at Cambridge School of Art. Throughout my studies I have enjoyed working with talented illustrators and inspiring tutors. During the course, I had the great privilege to publish a book with Editions Grandir, France. I love challenging myself and experimenting with traditional methods to make artwork. Printmaking is a crucial part in my practice. It rewards me often with beautiful mistakes and helps me to develop a distinctive visual language.
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STEVE ANTONY www.steveantony.com steve@steveantony.com 07765787770
SARAH BELLISARIO sarahbellisario.wordpress.com pylie@hotmail.com 07872 577933
SARAH DEAKIN www.sarahdeakin.com sarah@hardwickstudios.com
TAMSIN GILBERT tamsingilbert.wordpress.com tamsingilbert@hotmail.co.uk 07803616121
DAISY HIRST www.daisyhirst.com me@daisyhirst.com 07961982783
Lê Thi Minh Khuyên www.khle.net lethiminhkhuyen@gmail.com
ELENA ARÉVALO MELVILLE www.elenaarevalomelville.com studio@elenaarevalomelville.com 07785745391
VICTORIA BYRON www.vickybyron.com vicky.byron@blueyonder.co.uk 01392 274032
COURTNEY DICMAS www.courtney.dicmas.wordpress.com courtney.dicmas@gmail.com
MARIE GRUEBER www.illustriousdesigns.co.uk marie@illustriousdesigns.co.uk
HANNAH HUTCHINGS hannahhutchingsart.blogspot.co.uk hhutchings06@hotmail.co.uk
BEN LEVITT www.benlevitt.co.uk mail@benlevitt.co.uk
SUZANNE BARTON bartontsme@hotmail.com
JUE CHEN cj5186@hotmail.com
JOHANNA FERNIHOUGH www.jofernihough.co.uk jojofernihough@gmail.com
MOLIN HE molinhe@hotmail.com
HAZEL JENNINGS www.thehiveartiststudios.moonfruit.com hazelnut81@gmail.com 07961938358
MARGARÉTA MÁRTON www.martonmargareta.com martonmargareta@gmail.com 07877 898 463
HANNAH BEECH www.hannahbeech.posterous.com hello.hmbcreative@gmail.com
LAURA CRAGGS lauracraggs@hotmail.com
MARLENE GERLYNG www.mallamagart.com mgerlyng@gmail.com 07402811819
BENJAMIN HILLMAN untorch.tumblr.com
JUNGHA KIM kimjak2011@gmail.com
mIKE MASON www.mikemasongraphics.com mike@mikemasongraphics.com 07858 365522
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MEG Mclaren megmclarenillustrates.blogspot.com megmclaren@yahoo.co.uk
ANDREA RAMOS www.lalobodrila.blogspot.com aeronene@gmail.com
VICTORIA TURNBULL www.victurnbull.com vic@victurnbull.com 07811 004204
SURAPA WONGKOVIT (VICTORIA) victoria_yammy@hotmail.com
VALENTINA MENDICINO chigaia.blogspot.it (Kygaya@gmail.com) 0044-755-4760072 (UK) 0039-392-1136261 (IT)
LARA ROBINSON lararobinsonillustrates.blogspot.co.uk lararobinsonart@hotmail.co.uk
CAROLINE TYE ct-sketchbook.blogspot.com studio@carolinetye.co.uk 07879 676421
JIN CHO YOUN www.jinchoyoun.com jinchoyoun@hotmail.com 0794424 0389
GEMMA O’CALLAGHAN www.gemma-ocallaghan.co.uk gem_ocallaghan@yahoo.co.uk 07944 841381
JEMIMA SHARPE jemimasharpe.blogspot.co.uk jemimasharpe@hotmail.co.uk
GEORGIA WARLEY-CUMMINGS www.flickr.com/photos/gwarleycummings/ gwarleycummings@gmail.com
Hongsaphan Somboon (‘Hong’) hongworks.wordpress.com sb.hongsaphan@gmail.com
EMILY WILKINSON www.emily-wilkinson.com emily-wilkinson@hotmail.co.uk
EMMA RABY www.emmaraby-illustrator.co.uk emmaraby.blogspot.co.uk emmaraby@hotmail.com
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