Linzie Hunter

London-based Linzie Hunter graduated from Glasgow University and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before studying illustration at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. Originally from Glasgow, she began her professional career as a stage manager and theatre lecturer before becoming a full-time freelance illustrator in 2005.

Linzie’s hand-lettering and illustrations have appeared in books, magazines, and advertising campaigns internationally. Her clients include: BBC, Nike, Time Magazine, The Guardian, Gillette, Orange, Penguin, Random House and Bloomsbury

Her work is influenced by her love of all things vintage. Any spare time is often spent hunting down paraphernalia from the 50s and 60s, including but not limited to: tiki barware, pulp books, robots, dice, kitchenalia, old picture books, and science magazines. When not at the computer, she also enjoys traditional printmaking.

Her postcard book, “Secret Weapon: 30 Hand-Painted Spam Postcards”, was published by Chronicle Books in 2008 and her first picture book “A Small Brown Dog with a Wet Pink Nose” by Stephanie Stuve Bodeen was published by Little Brown in January 2010.

See more of Linzie’s work here.

John Shelley

I’ve been an illustrator since graduating from Manchester Poly in the early 1980’s.

After a few years freelancing in London, chiefly for publishing, I was bitten by the lure of the Far East and moved to Tokyo, living there for 21 years. I became widely known in Japan following a campaign of posters for Parco fashion department store, since then much of my work in the Far East has been for advertising and related graphic industries, though in recent years I’ve focused equally towards my first love, children’s books. In 2008 I returned to the UK and am now based in London, though I continue to maintain close connections with Japan.

My style has developed in multiple directions due to parallel careers in the publishing and advertising fields, nevertheless most is anchored around pen & ink line drawings. In the wider commercial market I often use a combination of digital and hand-drawn techniques. I’m inspired by contemplative graphic images that have an arresting simplicity, also conceptual and surrealist themes, especially in poster art. For children’s books I generally prefer a tight traditional approach using pen, ink and watercolour. Though I cover most age groups I’ve a particular love of quirky fantasy, mystery and fairytales.

The variety of subject matters notwithstanding, in all my work I try to articulate dynamism in my pen lines, depth in my vision, and clarity in my approach.

Major advertising clients have included Mitsubishi, Parco, Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Sony, Mitsukansu, NHK, Japan Railways, Apple Japan, Roland, Suntory, Kirin, Komatsu, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Toyota, Family Mart, Keio Dept Store, Hankyu Dept Store, Kodak, Heiwa, Orix, Tokyo International Car Show, Tokyo Pet Show, Kikkoman, Nichiban etc etc.

I’ve illustrated over 40 children’s books to date, for publishers in Japan, the US and UK, including Scholastic, FS&G, Simon & Schuster, Frances Lincoln, Andersen Press, Front Street, Charlesbridge, Fukuinkan Shoten, Tokuma Shoten, Hyoronsha and Kodansha.

See more of John’s work here.

Alex Poupard (Octagon Computer Graphics)

I began illustrating and visualising under the name of Octagon Computer Graphics in 1998 after two Technical Illustration Diplomas at college. I had enjoyed using traditional techniques of pencil, paintbrush and airbrush at college and am always interested in new technology so moving from traditional methods to CGI software was a natural progression. I now enjoy the precision and photographic nature of this kind of work.

My work has mainly been producing images for product visualisation, and also for marketing, when clients would traditionally have automatically used photography. This has been for everything from products and packaging, food, drink, vehicles, architecture, furniture and flowers & vegetation. I’ve also produced several large animation projects, sometimes for concept presentations but also for CD or DVD commercial presentations or training videos.

I have many regular clients which I think comes from working to a consistant high standard, and never missing a deadline in the 12 years I’ve been working. I am also very adaptable and used to completing last minute surprise projects when my clients have been placed in a tight spot.

My clients are many and varied, throughout the UK and regular International clients. A list of just some of the brands I’ve worked on are: Barclays Bank, Britvic, Cadbury, Cobra Beer, Coca-Cola, Design Council, Dillon Bass, Diageo, Fortnum & Mason, Glen Morangie, Guardian, Interbrew, Jabra, JVC, Johnson & Johnson, Lancome, Lynx, McCains, McVities, Nestle, Plantronics, Sainsbury’s, Shell, Tesco, Tetley, Vauxhall, Waitrose, Wella, WHSmith.

See more of Alex’s work here.

A Charm of Finches, Illustration by Emma Metcalfe

I have recently learnt that the collective noun for a group of finches is a ‘charm’. So here we have an illustration of a charming charm of Goldfinches and Redpolls perched on thistles and teasels in a decorative fashion.

The illustration was drawn with a pen and ink, and coloured digitally.
To see more of my work, visit my website at www.emillustration.co.uk

Nanette Hoogslag

In 1991 after my MA Illustration at the Royal College of Art, I started to work as an illustrator in Amsterdam in The Netherlands and only recently returned to the UK. I now live in Brighton and work for clients worldwide.

They say my work is influenced by “Dutch Design’ but British collage and love for texture is as important to me. I guess the result of the mix of the conceptual approach, the graphic structures and collaged layering makes it my own. Over the years my idea found itself translated into many different styles and approaches, using (my own) photography and digital imaging techniques as its starting point.

I often get asked to illustrate rather more abstract and complex idea’s. Assignments from science, health, IT, finance but also book publishing ask me to come up with a visual concepts, which I then translate into clear communicative images. Yet at the same time I always aim to give a deeper layer and my personal touch.

I have worked for clients such as City Council of Amsterdam, Deutsche Bank, European Cultural Foundation, Heineken, Ing Bank, KLM, London Transport, Moret- Ernst & Young, New York Stock exchange, Dutch Postbank, Royal Mail, Royal Shakespeare Company, Siemens, Shell, Toyota, Harper & Collins, Macmillan Books, Penguin Books, Vintage Books, ELLE, Financial Times, Marie-Claire, New Scientist, NRC, Playboy, and Sunday Times.

My work is represented by Debut Art, London.
See more of Nanette’s work in her AOI portfolio.

Sophie Tilley

I was born into an artistic family in 1960 where my father worked from home as an illustrator/graphic designer so I was able to wander in and out of his studio and observe the creation of a wide range of images produced for leading London ad agencies and publishers.

Thus I began drawing at an early age. After some twenty years of drawing and design my father began writing for television and feature films and I developed an interest in that field too, leading to my first job as a Junior Writer at IPC Magazines, rising to Fashion Editor then Associate Editor before leaving to start a family.

A move from London to the hills of Snowdonia led me back to illustration and design and I produced two craft books for Hamlyn/Reed which opened the way to my present career as an illustrator, designer and my work has been exciting and diverse.

I am currently completing the illustrations for the fourth and final book in a series published by Simon & Schuster.
More of Sophie’s work can be seen in her AOI Portfolio.

www.sophietilley.com
represented by Artist Partners Ltd

Otto

Otto has worked as a freelance illustrator since graduating in 1991 from Bristol Polytechnic in Graphic Design. He has been illustrating mainly newspapers and magazines but has also worked for Design and Advertising. As well as in Britain, his clients are in France, Germany, Latin America and North America. He often gets commissioned for economic, educational and political subjects, as has experience in solving a wide range of briefs.

After graduating from an MA in Illustration at Kingston University he began creating and publishing screen-printed books. When making graphics for books he experiments with innovative designs and pushes the boundaries of his visual language. That in turn feeds back into his commercial work.

The way Otto constructs images is derived from screen-printing, which is of course digital when working on commissions. Influences are Polish poster art, psychedelic designs of the Sixties and Russian Constructivist designs, with their montage of photos, type and flat design elements. Much of his subject matter references Baroque painting and sculpture, especially when representing the human figure.

Otto is often told that he has a particular style, but he has never pursued that. He rather prefers to play with a variety of styles, which often benefits the requirement of a brief. He is particularly interested in the limitations that come with a style: images are less informed by the elements they contain rather than which they avoid.

The featured images have been developed for the artist’s book ‘Musical chairs’. For this project Otto has developed a method of designing with standard patterns, in order to achieve variety as well a continuity of character. This style is versatile and can be used decoratively as well as for illustrating content. Therefore he decided to feature it in his current AOI portfolio. Illustrations can be animated if required.

I’m an experienced illustrator currently debuting a new style. I’ve previously worked with editorial, advertising and design clients including Sky, Harvester Restaurants, Thomas Cook, The Guardian, The Independent and the Times. For more examples of this brand new style please take a look at my site at www.evabee.co.uk.

This is a book cover I’ve illustrated for ‘Demon Strike’ by Andrew Newbound! It features a lenticular cover that enables the demon to change facial expressions (as shown here). It’s being published by The Chicken House in March this year.

Having grown up surrounded by aircraft and the people who fly them, I developed a fascination for all types of flying machines and would love to draw them whenever I got the chance, showing as much detail as I could. I studied Technical Illustration at Medway College of Design, graduating in 1987 and since then I have been working as a freelance illustrator, now work out of my studio in Marden, Kent.

Over the years I have been asked to produce a wide variety of illustrations in different styles and subjects, ranging from detailed cutaway views showing the inner workings of a machine, 3d photo realistic renders, line artworks and cartoons. The challenge of producing a big cutaway and getting to show all that lovely detail is really enjoyable but on the other hand, creating a soft ‘hand drawn’ image of a face or cartoon is as well, so I guess I can say I enjoy illustrating anything! I feel that it is very important for me to be as versatile as I can and to make sure everything stays within the brief and timescale and I am proud to say that I have never missed a deadline which I feel is as important as producing a good image.

One of my most recent projects was working with BAPRAS, who commissioned me to produce a series of drawings describing specific plastic surgery procedures to patients which are to be used on their website and printed literature. I create all of my illustrations digitally using 3D for my detailed technical and architectural views and Corel Painter, Photoshop and Wacom tablet for my softer drawings.

A few of my clients who have included The Observer, The British Association of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgeons, SAGA, City Link, Rentokil, Kent Ambulance Trust, Readers Digest, Cadburys, Swatch and BP. To view more of my work, please visit www.kwillustration.co.uk

Sophy works in a pokey little room in her house in Wiltshire where she lives with Mark Robertson, also an illustrator and author, their two teenage sons and a scraggy, black cat, who have all appeared in various guises in her illustrations. Some of her childhood was spent living in exotic locations such as Singapore, Hong Kong and The Middle East and she often finds her illustrations being influenced by these places. She uses chalk pastel – a dusty yet seductive medium.

Since graduating from Kingston 21 years ago, quite a large proportion of her commissions have been for children’s books. She sees no reason why children shouldn’t appreciate subtle use of colour and shape and enjoy images with a bit of atmosphere and drama. At the moment she is working on slightly daunting task of illustrating ‘The Classic Children’s Bible’ for Lion Hudson. She has also produced many book jackets for adult fiction.

Whilst still at college she won prizes in the Readers Digest Young illustrator’s competition two years in a row and was also runner-up for the Mother Goose Award for her first picture book.

She has been lucky enough to work for many top publishers including Penguin, Scholastic, Macmillan, Hutchinson, Templar, Bloomsbury, Orchard, Harper Collins, OUP etc and she has even had the pleasure of eating soup with Philip Pullman at his home whilst discussing the illustrations for his version of Aladdin. He made the soup – which was very tasty.

See more of Sophy’s work HERE.

Emily Bolam was born in Buckinghamshire in 1969.

She studied illustration at Brighton College of Art under the tutelage of well known illustrators John Vernon Lord and Chris McEwan. Her first idea for a children’s book, a pop-up version of a Rudyard Kipling story, began as a college project and was published upon her graduation in 1990.

Since then, Emily has illustrated over a hundred books for children, by many different authors, including Georgie Adams, Vivian French and Francesca Simon. She has worked with publishers such as Penguin, Campbell Books, Orchard Books and Orion amongst many others. Emily is best known for her lively and colourful depictions of animals in pre-school and novelty formats. She illustrated the best selling first series of Buggy Buddies which has recently been re-issued in a tenth anniversary edition. Emily continues to live and work in Brighton where she shares her studio with other artists and illustrators.

Emily is represented by The Bright Agency.

See more of Emily’s work HERE.

New spot illustrations for double page spreads in a farming magazine. They illustrate funny comments or stories sent in by farmers to the magazine over the past year. For more new editorial, design and advertising illustrations please visit my site at www.ellywalton-illustrations.com.