Timeline
Some career highlights
1994-1997
- Studio Artist at Character Magic Ltd (see About)
1997
- First freelance job: Tonka ‘The Best Christmas Tree Ever’. Client: Brown, Wells, and Jacobs Ltd; Publisher: Scholastic.
- Became a contributor to Disney’s Princess Magazine. Client: Egmont Creative London; Disney’s Winnie The Pooh Magazine. Client: Ulkutay Design; Publisher: Egmont
- Various greeting card designs. Client: Camden Graphics
1998-2002
- Over this period I found myself increasingly full-time with Winnie The Pooh, with various books & regular contributions to periodicals. Clients included: Disney Publishing Worldwide; Egmont; Pearson Education; Paul Windle Design; Ulkutay Creative.
2002
- Received Disney award! International interest for work on Winnie The Pooh followed. Client base expanded rapidly.
- Disney Classics: some background pencils for books of The Little Mermaid 2; Cinderella 2; Jungle Book 2. Client: Disney Publishing Worldwide, Burbank
2003 (to 2015)
- Principal artist for Winnie The Pooh Magazine. Approximately 160 issues over almost 13 years. This was a phenomenal opportunity, providing regular work and a reliable income for a long time; something all illustrators desire! I was very fortunate. Client: Egmont Creative
2003-2009
Over this period there were some interesting opportunities.
- Colour artist on the Brother Bear Storybook. Client: Character Building Studio for Disney Publishing Worldwide.
- Principal artist on new Classic Pooh publications, emulating the style of E.H. Shepard. My favourite titles from this period: 'The Magical Pop-Up World of Winnie-The-Pooh'; 'Four Seasons with Winnie-The-Pooh'; 'My Pooh Playhouse'; 'Hooray for Winnie-The-Pooh'; 'Winnie-The-Pooh and The Trouble with Bees'. Client: Egmont Books Ltd
- I provided artwork for two Classic Pooh style guides. Client: Disney Consumer Products EMEA
Other clients during this period included: Pearson Education; Parragon Books Ltd; Paul Windle Design; Doodlebug Design.
2009 (to 2013)
- A collection of Young Readers Classic Pooh storybooks for America. My favourite titles from this period: 'Pooh's Clean Up' and 'Pooh's Snowy Day'. Client: Penguin Group (USA).
2010
- Created an Artist Training for Classic Pooh (see Bio). Client: Disney Consumer Products EMEA
2012 (to 2015)
- Returned to the world of Disney princesses, providing pencils for a range of books supporting Disney TV Animation’s ‘Sofia the First’. Client: Character Building Studio for Disney Publishing Worldwide.
2013
I took on the role of Copy Artist for Penguin Random House's popular children's title Ladybug Girl. It was a challenge - trying to draw exactly like someone else, but my varied experience and Disney training helped me produce art that fitted in.
2015
- Ladybug Girl 'I Love You Bingo'. Client: Penguin Random House (USA)
- Disney Classics. I pencilled books for Lion King, Bambi, Lady & The Tramp, Jungle Book, Monsters Inc, and of course Winnie The Pooh. Client: Character Building Studio for Disney Publishing Worldwide.
- Returned to Disney's 'Princess' Magazine as a story artist. Client: Egmont Creative.
2016
- Pencils for Disney TV Animation properties 'Elena of Avalor' and 'Whisker Haven'. Client: Disney Publishing Worldwide.
- Copy Artist work for Rosemary Wells' Max & Ruby. Client: Penguin Random House (USA)
- A Disney Classics Baby range. Client: Parragon Books Ltd
Sofia the First - 'The Mystic Isles'; Winnie The Pooh - 'Frankenpooh'; Lion King - 'A Dark and Scar-y Night'; Beauty & the Beast & Tangled - 'Disney's 1000 Words'. Client: Character Building Studio for Disney Publishing Worldwide.
2017
-June: 20 years as a freelance illustrator.
2018
- Vector art for 'The Nutcracker And The Four Realms'. Client: Disney Publishing Worldwide
- Colour art for 'Muppet Babies - Super Fabulous'. Client: Character Building Studio for Disney Publishing Worldwide.
- Colour art for 'Dinosaurs Roar' and 'Cheeky Monkey'. Client: Bookoli
- Colour art for Widget World. Client: TED Group.
- Colour art for four 48-page Winnie-The-Pooh books: 'Pooh's Kindness Game'; 'The Forgiving Friend'; 'What Good Friends Do';
'Who Cares? Pooh Cares!'. Client: Character Building Studio for Disney Publishing Worldwide.
2019
A very bad year, business-wise. Almost nothing happened with commissions, but opportunities for the acquisition of new skill sets presented themselves.
2020
Most thankfully, business revived at the very point at which I was considering shutting it down for good. Then COVID-19 happened, and it ground to a halt again. However, two highlights were:
- Copy artist work on 'Angelina Ballerina'. Client: Simon & Schuster, New York.
- Background artist for 'Meet Mira'. Client: Character Building Studio for Disney Publishing Worldwide.
2021
COVID-19 continued and there wasn't enough illustration work to live on. I fell back on my other skill sets and considered new avenues.
2022
The business began to revive at the end of 2021 and has continued to grow positively. There were some interesting opportunities which were a joy to work on:
- Copy artist work on 'Ways to Share Joy' by Renée Watson. Client: Bloomsbury, New York. For the first time in my entire career, I retained the copyright on my illustrations.
- Disney's 'Firebuds' CPP. Merely a colouring book to accompany the TV series, but the characters were satisfying to draw.
Winnie The Pooh was still an occasional feature. I was pleased that he hadn't gone for good! It was good to be back.
2023
The year kicked off well with a high-profile Classic Winnie The Pooh book, 'Winnie The Pooh Meets The King', created to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. The book was published to both critical and public acclaim, reaching No.1 on the Bestseller list! Client: Farshore Books
This was followed by more good news, courtesy of Bloomsbury, who commissioned the next book in Renée Watson's Ryan Hart series.
In June, following the success of Winnie The Pooh Meets the King, there was a second commission from Farshore Books for another picture book, 'Winnie-the-Pooh Easter Hunt'.
Other work included background art for Disney's 'Ariel' picture books.
2024
The year began with some background art for a picture book of Illumination's Despicable Me 4.
In February, Farshore Books published 'Winnie-the-Pooh Easter Hunt'.
In March, I received word from clients at home and abroad that nothing was happening. There were no commissions for the next six months. Business revived in September, and things are now in the works for 2025.