Anne Wilson

Overview

Born on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, Anne Wilson now lives in the much less remote town of Reading. Growing up, she loved picture books and one day decided that telling a story through pictures was something she’d quite like to do for a job. Today, it doesn’t feel like a job at all to her, and in addition to children’s publishers she works for magazines, newspapers, charities, and museums and galleries.

Training

Anne has an MA in illustration from Central Saint Martins in London.

Approach

Anne balances the traditional with the digital in her process. Her scalpel, dip pen and inks sit side by side with her Wacom tablet, Mac and Photoshop. She loves the physical processes of colour mixing and mark making if they’re right for the project. These results then get scanned and imported into Photoshop to create a final image.

Style

Anne’s colourful, folksy images often feature a host of creatures and characters – some real, some imaginary. Teapots sprout legs, bears knit forests of trees and cats dance around mice. She varies her style quite broadly, sometimes limiting her colour palette with stronger graphical forms, and at other times flooding the illustration with colour, detail and unusual patterns.

Awards

Serco Prize for Illustration 2011

Client List

• Lonely Planet Kids
• Barefoot Books
• The London Transport Museum
• Independent on Sunday
• Mojo Magazine
• Feast Creative
• Crocodile Creek
• Save the Children