Kate Daubney
Children's Illustrator
Who or what made you want to become an illustrator?
I'm very lucky that I grew up in an artistic family. My Dad is a brilliant water colour painter and so I felt drawn towards art from a very young age. At college my amazing art teacher was a childrens book illustrator and I remember he bought in paintings from his books for us to see. I loved all the way the pictures told a story. I think it was at that point something clicked in my brain and I knew being an illustrator was for me.
Did you attend art school or undertake any other formal artistic training?
Yes I did. I went to Falmouth Art University in Cornwall, England where I completed a degree in Illustration. It was a very intensive course so I had to work very hard. In my second year I entered the Macmillan Childrens book prize and won a highly commended award which was very exciting and a great start to my career.
Where do you currently live and where did you grow up?
I grew up in a English village called Mortehoe not far from where I live now. Our family home was surrounded by countryside so we had a lot of room to play and grow, surrounded by nature. After graduating I moved to a city for a few years but when it came to putting down roots both me and my partner (an avid surfer!) decided that we wanted to live back by the sea, so we bought a little house in a village called Woolacombe, on the North Devon coast.
Which books from your own childhood really stand out?
'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak. I love the sentiment. That as a kid (and an adult!), it's part of being human to feel angry and frustrated from time to time; “they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.” This is pretty much what my five year old daughter does pretty much everytime things don't go her way! The illustrations are so memorable and stand out too. I love the beautiful rustic tones he used to bring the jungle landscapes to life and the way the wild things themselves are all so characterful.
What was your first commission as a professional illustrator?
As part of my illustration degree work I came up with the concept of a monster counting book. I created some illustrations and wrote a story, which was exhibited at the New Blood Design show in London. The work was spotted by a designer from Caterpillar Books. They invited me in for a meeting and off the back of it, commissioned 'The Monster Counting Book' which was my first published childrens book.
Describe your working technique and how you came to perfect it.
My illustrations are mostly digital. I usually do pencil sketches which are then scanned in and coloured in photoshop. I work in layers so that any amends are easy to make and colours can be tweaked without too much trouble. Sometimes I'll use hand drawn or painted elements in my images like the numbers in the illustration below.
