The SAA are very pleased to be supporting the World Illustration Awards by sponsoring The SAA Agents Award for New Talent.
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Myths of Japan showcases more of Katie’s beautiful signature illustration style, unifying this wonderfully collectable set of books from DK.
"I loved the stories I learnt about whilst working through this, so many stories about animal friends and nature spirits. There seems to be a theme of respecting nature that shines through these myths - a very important message!”
Becca Hall, represented by The Bright Agency, has a debut author/illustrated nonfiction book Epic Journeys: Ocean Voyagers. This epic book is out and we at Bright sat down with Becca to ask her all about what it was like writing her first book, how the process differed from previous projects, and where her passion for underwater migration came from.
What inspired you to create this book?
I’ve always been fascinated by animals and the incredible journeys they make. As a child, I loved filling my world with stories of animals, and I wanted to create the kind of book that would have completely captivated younger me. Migration combines adventure, science and storytelling in such an amazing and accessible way. These animals aren’t just travelling, they’re overcoming enormous challenges to survive, and passing all sorts of things on the way. I wanted children to feel that sense of wonder while also learning just how extraordinary our planet really is. As I am dyslexic, I also wanted to create beautifully illustrated, accessible non-fiction books that make learning easier and more engaging for every child.
Why migration?
Migration felt like the perfect theme because it’s something that connects so many completely different species. Whether it’s a humpback whale crossing oceans, a tiny sea turtle hatchling finding its way into the sea, or sharks travelling along ancient underwater highways, every journey has a purpose.
I also loved that migration naturally creates a story. Every chapter has a beginning, obstacles along the way, and an incredible destination, making it a really engaging way for children to learn about science and the natural world.
Tell us a little about your process. Where did you begin?
The research came first! I spent weeks researching facts, going to museums, watching documentaries, and reading articles to narrow down which migrations to include. Once I’d chosen the seven featured animals, I could then work out how each journey could be told visually.
Once I had my text and facts in place, I sketched rough page layouts, thinking about how readers’ eyes would travel across the spreads and how I could make each migration feel exciting and full of movement, while avoiding big blocks of text that can be off putting or difficult to process for dyslexic readers.
How has your environment helped to shape the book?
Living in Cornwall definitely influenced the way I approached Ocean Voyagers. Being surrounded by the sea reminds me every day that there’s a whole hidden world beneath the surface, with all sorts of creatures and their stories, and it’s so important we look after it. Walking along the coast and watching seabirds, waves and changing seasons helped inspire the sense of movement and scale that runs throughout the book.
I’ve also always loved spending time around nature, whether that’s by the coast or deep in land, and I think that appreciation for wildlife naturally finds its way into my illustrations.
What was your favourite part of creating this book?
It’s hard to pick a favourite part of creating this book because there were so many!
As I’d never written a non-fiction book before, I absolutely loved researching the facts, developing the ideas and planning how I could make this book feel different from others out there. Having the freedom to build something completely from scratch was SO much fun.
I also loved discovering all the incredible facts about animals and their migration journeys. At the end of almost every day, I’d end up telling my husband, Ben, all the amazing things I’d learnt! The fact that I was so excited about the words and the research before I’d even started illustrating felt really special. I hope children have those same “wow!” moments while reading the book.
I’ve also ALWAYS been a lover of the ocean and feel incredibly lucky to live on its doorstep. So getting to illustrate huge underwater scenes and all the amazing creatures that call it home was an absolute joy. I wanted every spread to feel like an adventure that readers could dive straight into.
Can you give us any teasers about the next book?
I’m so excited about this series as a whole!!
The next book, coming out in 2027, is called Land Roamers. This time, we’re following seven more of the world’s most incredible migrations… but on land!
Without giving too much away, you’ll meet everything from vast herds crossing the African plains to millions of bright red crabs taking over an entire island. There are icy adventures, dusty landscapes, dramatic river crossings and some of the biggest animal journeys on Earth.
If you enjoyed Ocean Voyagers, I think you’re going to LOVE exploring life on land too! And if you thought the ocean held some incredible migration stories… just wait until you see what’s happening on land!
Arena Illustration's Kristyna Litten returns alongside author Kathryn Cristaldi for the newest addition to their much-loved, bestselling I'll Love You Till the Cows Come Home series.
SCHOOL IS IN SESSION... in I’ll Love You Till The Sloths Start School, published by HarperCollins. But where are the sloths? This delightfully quirky lullaby follows a class of nocturnal animals - sloths, puppies and piglets among them, through a busy day of crafts, lunch and lessons, before it's finally time for the sloths to arrive for their own school adventure. It's the perfect read-aloud to reassure little ones just how much they're loved, even while they're away at school.
Kristyna's warm, whimsical and boisterous illustrations bring gentle humour and a message of inclusivity to every spread, making this a must-have for fans of the series. Kirkus Reviews called it "outstanding in its field," and it's easy to see why.
Kristyna Litten is represented by Arena Illustration.
We're excited to share that Arena Illustration's Adam Stower has a brand-new picture book out this month, published by HarperCollins! Little Acorn: A Long Way Down is a gorgeous story bursting with charm, humour and heart.
Way up high in the treetops sleeps a happy little acorn - until one day he falls to the forest floor with a THUMP! Dormouse, Bird and Squirrel invite him to dance, sing and play, but there's only one place Little Acorn wants to be: back in the treetops. With a hungry piglet on the loose, the way back isn't easy. Can his new friends help him find the courage to step out of his comfort zone?
This wonderfully funny and reassuring story about friendship is perfect for children facing new experiences, with forests, trees and nature at its heart. It's a beautiful showcase of Adam's imaginative artwork and his gift for exploring big feelings through gentle, playful storytelling.
Adam Stower is already well known and loved for his Murray and Bun series and Little Acorn is a wonderful addition to his growing body of work with HarperCollins.
Adam Stower is represented by Arena Illustration.
Published by Pushkin Press this month, Gaia's cover and accompanying map bring Jennifer Liss's mystery-adventure to life, drawing readers into the world of ten-year-old Meridian as she hunts for a legendary lake monster while uncovering long-buried family secrets.
Gaia's bold wrap-around cover immerses readers in a sweeping landscape of rolling hills, mountains and a glimmering lake, with Meridian herself keeping watch for the ever-elusive Wide Eye. Alongside the cover, Gaia created an intricate map of Wide Eye Lake. The work was the result of a close collaboration between Gaia, the publisher and the author, with Jennifer Liss supplying photo reference and thoughtful feedback to ensure the world felt both authentic and richly imagined. The finished cover reads as a genuine extension of the story itself - atmospheric, inviting and full of quiet mystery.
Gaia Alessi is represented by Arena Illustration.
Svetlana Molodchenko crafts a spring-to-summer visual narrative across cover and edges for FairyLoot.
Svetlana was commissioned by FairyLoot to produce a dust jacket and digital edge illustrations for The Swan’s Daughter, bringing a sense of quiet enchantment to the exclusive edition.
Her approach centres on the fragile shift from spring to summer, where soft florals and light-drenched tones echo the novel’s themes of power, survival, and love. Subtle references to the text are woven throughout, giving the artwork a layered, almost heirloom quality.
Extending the imagery across the book’s edges, Svetlana turns the object itself into a continuous scene, inviting the reader to step into a suspended fairytale moment.
Harry was thrilled to be asked to create four new covers for the reissued classics written by Gerald Durrell; The Drunken Forest, The Picnic and Suchlike Pandemonium, Marrying Off Mother & Rosy Is My Relative. The illustrations showcase Harry’s ability to blend contemporary style with a sense of nostalgia, along with his sharp eye for humour and design.
A stunning cover for ’The Jewel Keepers’ by Sara Sheridan, illustrated by Lucy Rose for Hodder & Stoughton.
For linocut artist Becca Thorne, illustrating 'Bring Me Love by Icy Sedgwick' was a true passion project.
Fantasy author Icy Sedgwick is an expert on folklore and her latest book, Bring Me Love, is a tome of love spells, rituals and divinations that have come out of her research. To give the book an aura of traditional authenticity, Watkins Publishing recruited Bristol-based linocut artist Becca Thorne to illustrate the book. Her hand-crafted technique provides a look perfect for the age-old spell weaving detailed inside – but more than that, Becca’s main inspirations are folklore and nature. Bringing her own love of the subject to the artwork made her the perfect illustrator for the brief. We asked her to tell us more about the project.
How did the Bring Me Love commission come about?
Karen Smith, head of design at Watkins Publishing, got in touch to see if I was free to work on a book about love and divination. I was pretty busy at the time, but I’d never done something like it before, so I was really intrigued. Fortunately, they were able to push their initial deadline!
What was the brief?
I was asked to create a cover illustration and nine chapter openers, each with distinct elements that could be pulled out and used separately throughout the book. As the manuscript was still being finalised, we started with just the cover and one chapter, then did the rest in batches as the text came through.
What was it in the brief that got your creative mind firing, because ‘finding and keeping love using divination and folk magic’ does sound a bit out there?
This is just the sort of thing I love drawing – dark, nature-based, a bit magical. On the face of it, the book could easily sound a bit silly, but it soon became obvious that it's way more than a book of love spells. Icy is so knowledgeable and curious about history, folklore and plant lore that I knew it would be super interesting to work with her. And of course, I really wanted to draw all those plants and poppets.
How did you decide what to illustrate and plan the workflow?
The publisher sent me each chapter to read, and she and the author highlighted things they wanted me to explore. This was great, as I was able to read the whole text to put things into context and also add any other relevant imagery I was drawn to. I was working in batches of two to four illustrations at a time as each chapter was finalised, so there wasn't too much to do all at once.
How was the project managed?
I’d create an initial rough sketch for the client to review and maybe suggest edits, and then I’d work that up into a secondary rough which would go to the author for final approval before I carved and printed the finals. We were all pretty in-sync with our ideas, so it was a pleasingly collaborative and simple process.
So many skills are needed to achieve a linocut print. You’ve got to plan the composition, you’ve got to draw it within the parameters of the medium, then carve it and eventually actually make the prints. How did you approach each artwork?
Lino cutting is done backwards and in negative, so when I’m sketching, I’m always thinking about how it will translate into carving. I use texture and negative space to create depth when working in single colour, and I like to do everything at the final publishing dimensions whenever possible, so that I know exactly how all the cut lines and textures will appear on the page. I’ve got tools that allow for a fair amount of detail, but of course there’s a limit to how far I can go, so I’m always taking that into consideration.
How was the cover designed, how were the elements for it chosen, what were the challenges involved and how did you overcome them?
I was given a list of potential items from each chapter to use on the cover, and the client had a few suggestions for potential layouts, so I sketched some very rough compositions for them to choose from before working one up further. The cover needed to give a beautiful and playful sense of magic, history, love spells and folklore without looking either too twee and silly, or too heavy and gothic. It was a fine line to walk, but I think we got it!
What were some of your favourite internal illustrations?
That’s a really hard one to answer. I’m quite fond of the introduction illustration, and the one for the Plants chapter – those two were particularly enjoyable to research, sketch and carve. I really like the illustration for the final chapter too – fun fact: that’s Queen Victoria’s wedding dress.
And what were the most difficult images to resolve or get right, and why?
The hardest thing was probably ensuring consistency through all the illustrations, as I was doing them in small batches over several months with other jobs in between. I’m usually working on two or three jobs in tandem, and they naturally tend to inform one another, so if there’s a pause in a job it can be easy to slip into a different frame of mind with other projects, and it can be tricky to pick back up where I left off. Fortunately, I was working on other things that linked well with this one, so I was already in the right zone when it was time to start the next batch.
Was there anything about the process or the feedback that you feel helped you excel?
It’s always wonderful when a publisher supplies the manuscript with a brief, as it helps build a more complete picture of the book. By reading the full chapters, I could put the client’s and author’s suggestions into wider context, thinking about the time period, an item's usage and the theme of that chapter. Discovering the author’s podcast was also really helpful, as it allowed for very informed research.
Were there any magical accidents along the way?
While working on Bring Me Love, I was also working on the illustrations for the Folio Society’s edition of Hamnet, and the two connected beautifully. As one of the main characters in Hamnet is an apothecary, I could draw on what I was learning from Bring Me Love to help me incorporate meaningful flora into the Hamnet illustrations, and the wider narrative from Hamnet into my work on Bring Me Love.
What was it like really embracing folklore, magic and mysticism – topics you love – during this project?
I’ve always been interested in folklore – the ways people told stories to make sense of the natural world and their place in the universe, as well as for entertainment. So, I really enjoyed this project, and I learnt things that continue to inform my personal work as well as other commissions.
What is your verdict on the final outcome?
I think it looks great, I particularly love how the illustrations were used within the text.
And what has the feedback been like from the people who really matter, the readers?
The response on my social media has definitely been positive!
Lisa has produced a 248-page hardback book presenting over 200 editorial magazine covers illustrated by herself over the last 5 years.
The book contains extensive articles and statements from 49 contributing Art Directors about magazine cover design. The book is for sale at https://asillo.com/product/ive-got-it-covered-hardback-large-format-book/. Her recent exhibition at Debut Art’s own gallery in central London was a huge success with attendance at the PV’s by many of the Art Directors who have commissioned her and many others. The exhibition featured the launch of the book and over 70 framed magazine covers Lisa has illustrated.
More of Lisa’s work can be viewed at https://www.debutart.com/artist/lisa-sheehan?tags=illustration