About ME

I am based in a nondescript town halfway between Manchester and the Peak District National Park, where I live with my two cats and a lot of books. I’ve been working as an illustrator for the last twenty-odd years, having graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a BA in Illustration and an MA in Communication Design in the late 90s. My childhood was spent drawing Star Wars and Transformers characters and until I was in my teens I wanted to draw comics when I grew up. When I was about 14 I was reading a novel and it suddenly dawned on me that someone had been paid to paint the cover illustration and that sounded like an amazing job to have since drawing and reading were my two favourite things. Now, amongst lots of other illustrations, I’ve done covers for just over 200 books, and I was right: it is an amazing job to have.

CLIENT LIST

Penguin Random House, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Barefoot Books, Egmont Children's Books, Bloomsbury Publishing, Faber & Faber, Nosy Crow, UCLan, Chicken House, Holiday House Books, Simon and Schuster, Piccadilly Press, Welbeck Flame, Andersen Press, Michael O’Mara Books, Stripes Publishing, Walker Books, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion Children's Books, David Fickling Books, Scholastic Books, Hodder Headline, Macmillan, Chronicle Books, Maverick, Sleeping Bear Press, Time Warner Books, Duncan Baird Publishers, Transworld Publishers, Oxford University Press, Godsfield Press, Lion Publishing, HarperCollins, Crocodile Creek, V&A Museum of Childhood, BBC, Turner Duckworth, Fox Kalomaski, Mother, CAFOD, Christian Aid

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Shortlisted, Branding/Identity Category, British Book Design and Production Awards 2010

Gold Medal, 3x3 Picture Book Show 2012

Shortlisted, Children’s Books category, AOI Illustration Awards 2014

Merit, 3x3 Picture Book Show 2014

Honourable Mention, 3x3 Picture Book Show 2015

Bronze Medal, 3x3 Picture Book Show 2018

Distinguished Merit, 3x3 Picture Book Show 2018

Merit, 3x3 Picture Book Show 2018

Selected for Society of Illustrators Annual 2018

Shortlisted, The Kitschies Inky Tentacle Award for best cover, 2018

Honourable Mention, 3x3 Picture Book Show 2019

Selected for Society of Illustrators Annual 2020

Merit (x3), 3x3 Professional Show 2020

Shortlisted, Book Covers category, World Illustration Awards 2020

Best Front Cover, Redhill Academy Trust Book Awards 2021

Merit, 3x3 Professional Show 2021

Honourable Mention (x3), 3x3 Professional Show 2021

Longlisted, Book Covers category, World Illustration Awards 2021

Merit (x2), 3x3 Professional Show 2022

Best Front Cover, Redhill Academy Trust Book Awards 2023

Honourable Mention, 3x3 Professional Show 2023

Longlisted, Book Covers category, World Illustration Awards 2023