We’re super excited to be partnering with the Arts University Bournemouth for a sixth year to select and show off some of 2025’s graduates from the Illustration course.
The work chosen ranges from 3D printing to children’s books and packaging. We caught up with the selected illustrators to get an insight into their work and highlight some of our favourite pieces.
Juno Frenzel – @junofrenzel
If you could work with a dream client, who would it be and why?
I‘d love to work with children’s magazines, like Aquila or Anorak. I used to read magazines like that as a kid and remember how fun they were. It would be cool to get to illustrate something for them. A dream project more than a specific client would also be educational, specifically natural, illustrations for children.
What direction would you like to take your work post higher education?
I want to get into public/community art ! I fell in love with mural painting after helping out with the big mural in Bournemouth at Braidley Road Car Park. I‘d love to design and paint murals in public spaces, it’s just so cool to think about people seeing my art on such a large scale and bringing them a bit of joy with it.
Harriet Vincent – @harrietillustration
What informs your practice?
I’m really inspired by interactivity and those joyful, warm moments you find in films and games. My work often blends traditional character design with immersive digital tools like VR. I’m always drawing from themes of nature, nostalgia, and play. I’ve always loved games like Animal Crossing, Little Big Planet, and Mario Galaxy! I’m also a huge fan of stop-motion films like Coraline and Wallace & Gromit. The warmth, humour, and handmade charm of those worlds really inspired me and the way that I work.
Tell us about your Final Major Project.
My Final Major Project is called Pikaboo – an interactive VR garden filled with hidden fruit and vegetable creatures! It takes players through the seasons, with fun easter eggs, playful details, and educational facts sprinkled throughout. I also designed a collectible blind box for the game, which I 3D-printed, hand-painted, and packaged.
Felix Bychawski – @felixbychawski
Tell us about a typical working day.
I look over the list of stuff I need to work on and start sketching first thing in the morning. If it’s not working out I’ll switch to the next thing until something sparks any actual interest in me. Afterwards I go on about my day, and if I can’t stop thinking about it for at least 3 hours it’ll usually be good enough to commit to it. Then it’s just a lot of drawing.
What informs your practise?
Dreams. I enjoy them as a concept of nonsense that carries an inseparable part of your identity. I don’t dream enough to make every piece based on them, but I like my art upholding the sentiment.
What direction would you like to take your work post higher education?
The music industry and whatever it requires.
Léane Ruggli – @leaneruggli
How did you develop your personal style? Who are your influences?
My style has evolved a lot over my three years at AUB. In first year, my work was much more detailed and textured, but I’ve always been drawn to bold, geometric shapes. Over time, I’ve grown more confident leaning into that. I’d say my current style really took shape in third year, while designing characters for my cocktail can project. It finally felt like something that genuinely reflected me. It’s also a very efficient way for me to work; I can create a piece quickly without losing impact. For a recent live brief, I had just a couple of days to create something from scratch. Using Illustrator, I focused on bold flat shapes, limited colours and entangled characters; the client ended up picking it as a favourite. That moment really solidified my confidence in the style I’ve developed.
As for my influences, they change all the time. At the moment, I really like the work of Itsacat, Clémence Gouy and Clara Super Duper.
If you could work with a dream client, who would it be and why?
I would love to be working for the Olympics and Paralympics. It would be amazing to play a part in such a worldwide event supporting values of respect, friendship, determination, inspiration, and equality.
Marcie Howard – @mar.cie_mae
What made you want to become an illustrator?
Realising how much value illustration has in making everyday life more interesting. Things that other people wouldn’t realise have been made by an illustrator to engage with an audience, just because it’s fun to look at.
Tell us about your Final Major Project.
I started with finding a text to adapt to a young children’s picture book, this is the original story ‘The Hypocritical Cat’. Changing mainly the ending from a Grim fairytale style “and they all died” to something sillier and more pointless for the child audience. The result being a short picture book which involves a pack of rats against the evil watcher cat.
Beck O’Hara – @beck.oh
How did you develop your personal style? Who are your influences?
My style has grown slowly over the last few years, I used to focus on more realistic and atmospheric work but throughout the last few years I have leant into more exaggerated and simple shapes and print inspired colour palettes. Making risograph prints had a big impact on my style. A few illustrators I really love and am influenced by are, JooHee Yoon, Charlotte Ager, Darren Shaddick and Kezia Gabriella.
What advice would you give students starting the course in September?
Try not to always worry about the outcomes so you can enjoy the drawing/creating process. Go to life drawing! Talk to your classmates in studio! Attend guest lectures and ask all the little questions you want! Grades aren’t the most important indicator of progress.
Ciara Williams – @ciara.louisew
How do you want people to feel when they see your work?
I want people to feel curious, like they’ve seen something familiar in a new way. Ideally, it sparks inspiration or makes them wonder how it was made. I love when viewers feel immersed in a mini-world or intrigued by the characters and textures. If it makes someone want to create something of their own, that’s the dream.
If you could work with a dream client, who would it be and why?
Dream clients? Definitely musicians like Fontaines D.C., Wolf Alice, Wet Leg, or NewDad. I’d love to create visuals or animations for their music. Music is such a big part of how I work creatively, and collaborating with artists I admire would be amazing. I’d also love to work with studios like Laika or Aardman, their ability to tell tactile, character-driven stories with heart is exactly the kind of work I want to make.
Macy Conway – @macyconwayart
What made you want to become an illustrator? Who are your influences?
I’ve always been drawn to visuals, especially detailed illustrations in old children’s books from the ‘70s that I read as a child, books my dad also read when he was a child. Some of my favourites were Each Peach Pear Plum, Would You Rather?, and The Snowman. After looking online, I realised all three were originally published in 1978, so there must be a running theme! There’s something warm and comforting about the hand-drawn illustrations. They are full of detail, but not fully realistic, which makes them feel playful, imaginative and nostalgic. The richness of the illustrations lets you get lost in them and there’s always something new to notice, making them memorable and each reading feel like a sense of discovery. More recently, I’ve also been inspired by contemporary illustrators like Dan Stiles, Murugiah, and Silken Favours.
How do you go about starting a piece of work? Does it start as a pencil drawing? What is your process?
I usually start with research based on the project theme or client, then create a mind map of words and small sketches to capture any ideas that come to mind. I begin a piece with pencil sketches by hand as it just feels more natural and helps me get the idea straight from my head onto paper. It also helps me to explore ideas and compositions without overthinking. Once I’m happy with the layout or composition, I’ll bring the final hand drawn illustrations into Photoshop or Procreate to work on the colours and final details digitally.
Lucas Grundy – @spuds.2
How do you go about starting a piece of work? Does it start as a pencil drawing? What is your process?
I find starting in graphite to be very useful, mostly because it allows for more control over how light your lines are, as well helping you visualise your composition instead of it being scaled to a monitor. To colour, I use a mix of markers and colour pencils as I don’t see this combination very widely used. I would recommend always sealing your colours with a white colour pencil and going over again where needed. Finally I take a simple scan of the work and clean up digitally.
How do you want people to feel when they see your work?
I aim to replicate the feeling of opening a party bag as a child, on the way home from a party. A sense of wonder or curiosity that resides within the loneliness or uncertainty of going home.
Aster Sakalauskaite – @asterisak
If you could work with a dream client, who would it be and why?
One of my dream clients would be Bird and Blend. I believe my work could fit really well into their emphasis on their packaging along with their products. Clients who have a focus on nature or natural products would make me so happy.
How did you develop your personal style? Who are your influences?
I was always drawn to traditional mediums, and I never felt like I could replicate the nature of the handmade through digital work. I would always fall back onto collaging as a way to help me think about illustrations more carefully, as I had to put thought into every individual shape and colour. Eventually, I realised ‘oh, this could be my thing!’ And I couldn’t find a way to stop since then. I started collaging just before starting university, when I discovered Emily Schofield. Our work is very different, but she is the reason I ever even found the existence of papercut collage. I appreciate that she has always shared her progress online, collage is such a therapeutic method of creating slow art. I also love the accessibility.
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