Claire Richards

www.clairerichards.com.au

Claire first discovered her quirky characters when they started running around the edges of her sketch book at TAFE in 2003. Her lectures encouraged her so on finishing her degree she became a fulltime illustrator. She started with greetings cards,  paintings of animals, children’s portraits and handmade books. The Child Magazines franchise commissioned cartoons and eventually a front cover. Interpreting the articles was fantastic preparation for illustrating books.

Her first book ‘A Little Bit’ ( by Christine & Peter Maniaty, 2008) was for Omnibus books in Adelaide.She has since worked with several publishers and seen her books translated into many languages. She still creates handmade books, the latest of which grew into a 136 page printed graphic novel with a webpage, Bernie and the Birds.

Every book project is an exciting new creative challenge for Claire, a new animal to learn to draw or painting technique to explore.  She loves sharing the design process and helping others tell their stories. She studied teaching in 2012 and worked first as a high school art teacher and then digital technology. Jack and Mia by Robert Vescio was illustrated completely on the computer and she is developing a computer animation but ink and watercolours will always be her preferred medium.