Curriculum Vitae

About me

Born in 1968 Aldeburgh, Suffolk, UK - the daughter of an artist. Currently married with two young sons (currently aged six and eight) and living near Colchester in Essex.

Since graduation from Brighton University Art College I have had considerable experience working as a freelance illustrator for a variety of well known publishers in a number of media – including magazines, educational children's books and book packaging my line and colour wash style has always been very useable and I have had most commercial success in this area. More recently I have been designing greetings cards and stationery for the award winning company phoenix Trading and many of my humorous designs have become best sellers.

Following on from the success of these designs I was recently approached by Dunoon Ceramics who have now produced six of my designs on a range of high quality stoneware mugs – now available in the shops. This is a new development for me, and an exciting area to venture into as seeing the designs on a 3D object is very rewarding.

More mugs and cards are in the pipeline I am always thinking about my next idea!

My website includes these designs and as I am always keen to experiment also a selection of my other work including watercolour paintings and textile pictures so as to show as wide a range of styles as possible. The website can be found at…

www.helen-l-smith.co.uk

Professional History

Between 1991 and the present I have worked for a variety of publishers in a range of media:

Dunoon Ceramics – Range of six 'Dictionary of...' humorous mugs, plus others in the pipeline.
Phoenix Trading – Numerous cards and stationery products including a number which have been consistently placed in the top 30 rankings for sales.
Alphalearners – Design of characters for children's learning sticker system.
Marshall Editions/Readers Digest – Illustrated 'Big Book of Time' large format, heavily illustrated educational children's book.
Oxford University Press – Various English educational publications
Collins – Illustrated 'yesterday's Toys & Games' History book for schools
Thomas Nelson – Various Maths school schemes
Dorling Kindersley/Funfax - A very large number of craft kits, books, puzzles for pocket money publications. Also 'Eureka' book about inventions and practical science for children.
Independence Publishers – Various educational works for schools.
Homes & Gardens Magazine – Provided illustrations for several articles.
RSPB – Produced worksheets, humorous information posters etc. and developed logo/branding for a number of fund-raising events.
National Trust – Provided puzzle/worksheet illustrations for a young members' newssheet
Green Magazine – Provided illustrations for several articles.
Milldown Stebbings Design – Produced artwork for many children's CD/cassette covers.

Although generally working on commissions for the publishing market, rather than being a 'Gallery Artist' as such, I have, however, occasionally exhibited over this period at a variety of locations such as Life Cafe, Colchester; Cuckoo Farm Workshops, Colchester; The Strand Gallery, Piccadilly London; The Ancient House Gallery, Ipswich – as part of the 'Freelance' Group; The former Denis Taplin Gallery, Woodbridge.

Educational History

1988-91 Studied for a BA Honours degree in Graphic Design (specialising in Illustration) at Brighton College of Art (now part of Brighton University) obtaining a 2:1 degree. My final year dissertation was based on the study of decorative art/illumination on medieval manuscripts. The course culminated in shows in both London and Brighton which lead to some of my initial commissions in the book publishing market.

After concluding my A-Level Studies, in 1987-88 I completed a Foundation Year at Ipswich School of Art. During this period I experimented with a wide range of techniques and ways of working which has stood me in good stead as my personal style has developed.

Prepared 18^th August 2007