Brighton Illustrators Group

Emma McCann

Hello. I live in Brighton and work from home where my ideas are scribbled, inked, painted and scanned into existence. Although I can work traditionally with a good old brush and some watercolour, I prefer to work with what I call “digital collage”. My work is inked by hand, then scanned in to Photoshop where I add a combination of flat colour, scanned textures, papers or fabrics, and hand painted swatches to bring it all to life.

I studied illustration at Kingston University, where I happened to find myself in the highly unusual situation of being nabbed by a publisher at my degree show in 2003. My first self-penned picture book “Fish Don’t Play Ball” was published by Meadowside Children’s Books in June 2004. My second, “Munch”, followed in February 2005 and was long-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal. I have since worked for a variety of clients including Scholastic, Wayland, MAGA, Tony Potter Publishing , Korea Hemmingway and AAHA.

Recently I have become very interested in screenprinting, having first developed a taste for it at university. I regularly use the studios at Brighton Independent Printmaking and have set up an online shop at http://www.screeningbluemurder.etsy.com to sell my wares. It gives me a new avenue for my work, as well as allowing me to get messy!

I currently live a dual life. By day, I may be a mild-mannered illustrator, but by night I become the masked crime-fighter and master cake-baker “Red Velvet”. I hoped to be joined soon in my crime fighting/cake baking adventures by a small, black, white and dog-shaped partner.*

*May or may not be true.

Websites:

• http://www.emmamccann.co.uk
• http://www.emmamccann.blogspot.com
• http://www.screeningbluemurder.etsy.com