Katie Smith

Name

Katie Smith

Course

Children's Book Illustration, MA

Contact

About

Hi! I’m a Children’s Book Illustrator from around Warrington, I completed a BA (hons) degree at Wrexham Glyndwr university in 2021 after a lot of development and experimentation, thinking I had resolved a way of working ready to find a career in the creative world. However, I quickly realised that I had no idea how to find work as an illustrator, or where my work fit into the world of illustration. In this gap year, I started to attend events as a stall holder with my digital designs, local markets, comic cons and similar events, I still do when possible, as I love it very much and there is such a lovely community of people involved. As time progressed, I considered returning to education as I felt I needed a more specific direction in which to take my work. I then found the course at UClan and felt an immediate recognition of what that direction should be. My journey at UCLan has been a lot of open-minded thinking, hard work and endless drawing but it has been extremely worth it. I was initially extremely opposed to using a variety of media and experimenting again as I thought I was settled but I’m so glad that I remained open to the possibilities. My work has evolved significantly and I’m very excited for my future as an illustrator and to see how my work develops next.

Project overview

My Favourite Scrapbook

My picturebook depicts the adventures and fun experiences shared between a little girl and her grandma, and sometimes a cat called socks. The narrative is portrayed through the conversation between the characters and the portrayal of their time together and items collected along the way in the form of a scrapbook. The focus of the story is to be a fun and light-hearted journey of the characters together but also tackles the subject of grief. The narrative message is about experiencing loss and demonstrating the comfort that can be found in memories, it intends to start dialogue and encourage open discussions about losing loved ones.

UCLan Degree Show artwork submission by Katie Smith named My Favourite Scrapbook

Front Cover

UCLan Degree Show artwork submission by Katie Smith named My Favourite Scrapbook

Baking Page

UCLan Degree Show artwork submission by Katie Smith named My Favourite Scrapbook

Gardening Page

UCLan Degree Show artwork submission by Katie Smith named My Favourite Scrapbook

Snow Page

UCLan Degree Show artwork submission by Katie Smith named My Favourite Scrapbook

Empty Chair

UCLan Degree Show artwork submission by Katie Smith named My Favourite Scrapbook

I Feel Better