Upperthong is a village outside Huddersfield in North Yorkshire. When author John Simes and his agent got in touch asking if I could do the cover to his book, 'The Upperthong Thunderbolt', I just assumed he was from there. When I found out he was based in Devon I was surprised, but I shouldn't have […]
Do they take your idea and run with it? Illustrators for hire are a flexible bunch when it comes to helping you imagine an amazing visual for your project. Do you have a clear idea of what you want from your illustrator of choice, or would you benefit from a handful of quick sketches to […]
Really happy with this. Last year a friend asked me to illustrate his book. Chris is a CBT counsellor, and his ace book is full of advice on how to deal with anxiety. As you can tell I got very creative visualising what stress might look like! It's a really helpful book and great stocking […]
How much does illustration cost? How does it work? These are questions I get often get asked when approached from clients considering new artwork. In this article I talk about the process I use when given a commissioned illustration project. It's about art style and content, but moreover it's about meeting expectations and getting clarity […]
Every year I do a 'Christmas Card Campaign'. It's a very enjoyable way of doing a bit of marketing, doing my own Christmas cards (well, postcards). I've been doing it on and off since my days at university. It was always intended as a bit of fun but has really become useful in the last […]
"I’d long been an admirer of John Cooper’s artwork, so when I needed an illustrator for my first book, John was my first choice. His work was always inventive, and often greatly improved on my original ideas. He can work fast, to a deadline, and can adapt quickly to a change of plan. Working with […]
I've recently completed new illustration, HTML5 games for the online e-learning platform, Manchester Children's University Taking their original content from the older flash format and converting it to new standards was a challenge, but also a great opportunity to get really creative with illustration, and I wanted to push the boat out on this one […]
Most years I do my own Christmas card illustration artwork. What started as a way to show off back when I was a student, has now become a tradition of sorts. “You don’t need big ideas, you need cheap experiments” said Micheal Schrage, talking about innovation in a digital economy, but he might as well […]
