Hello! I am nothing short of delighted to welcome you to my little corner of t'internet, and hope that you'll enjoy rifling through the samples of recent projects, sketchbook doodles and card designs clustered here.

 

After leaving an editorial role in the publishing industry in 2008, I have been working as a freelance illustrator, in-between myriad part-time jobs, ranging from freelance Proofreader to Design and Licensing Assistant with a leading international illustration agency. 

 

I have recently completed the MA Children's Book Illustration Course at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (UK), which I embarked on in Oct 2013 after experiencing something like a creative epiphany on their excellent Summer School programme the previous August (and which I thoroughly recommend to anyone with ambitions of becoming a children's book illustrator).

 

In May 2014 I was Highly Commended for my entry, Stage Fright (see Illustration gallery and sketchbook pages), to the Macmillan Prize for Children's Picture Book Illustration and in February 2015 I was awarded Second Prize in the Searle Award for Creativity.

 

Large mugs of very hot tea, buttery-soft 7B pencils, Battenburg cake and windy-day walks are among my very favourite things - although, since studying in Cambridge, a well-maintained push-bike (and, ergo, the magic of WD40), the Fitzwilliam Museum, and Tindall's art supplies shop should probably be added to that list.

 

Thanks so much for dropping by, and if you'd like to get in touch to ask about commissioning, collaboration, use of illustrations, or just for a general, time-frittering chat over your morning cuppa, please feel free to drop me a line using the contact page or the details below:

 

 

email: apollard.illustrator@gmail.com

 

tel.:    +44 (0)7792 172428