Designer, author, and illustrator, Lisa Stickley understands the importance of a good book. Having come to reading a little later herself (in her teens, thanks to Roald Dahl), she now works to encourage children to enjoy reading as much as possible and as soon as possible.
Though now fully committed to writing and illustrating stories for children, she had originally been trained in a whole other field – as a printed textile designer. “Training and working as a printed textile designer, illustration naturally went hand in hand with designing prints,” she explained in an interview with Dulwich Festival. “I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been able to transfer this into illustrating for books.”
When it comes to her creative process itself, her work very much relies on her background in textile. “I use a lot of different processes to draw and it’s great for bringing different characters to life by way of oil pastels, mono-printed line combined with collaged pattern (often from my own stash of designs), pen and ink, paper cutting and paint,” she explains. “I quite like a blank sheet of paper and often doodle on older, more worn out bits of paper I’ve collected over the years. It adds another element to the illustration, I think.”
“At the moment I love drawing animals and have a particular penchant for drawing soft toys (old and new), building up layer upon layer of texture to give the right look and feel to the character,” she added. “I love making them look a little bit wonky and odd, giving them their own unique personality.”
Her wonky illustrations will delight your inner child:
