Rob Perry, Designer in Billericay, UK

Overview

I'm a very experienced Graphic Designer and visualiser, having worked in publishing for nearly thirty years. I started out in the 90's in children's non fiction and reference, and worked mostly on heavily illustrated books where I was visualising for artwork commissioning then assembling layout on screen through to final print. At the end of the 90's I moved into licensed books for film, TV and comics. I have experience in most formats and although completely familiar with the Mac and Adobe Creative suite, I'm as comfortable with pencil and paper. I've headed big teams on projects, controlling schedule, budgets and staffing, and represented my previous company at meetings with third parties such as Marvel Studios, Paramount and DC Comics, as well as commissioning illustrators and artists. I was also lucky enough to spend time working at the offices of Disney studios in LA and also attend the San Diego Comicon on behalf of my previous company. At the same time I've also spent a lot of time developing new projects solo, and love the challenge of taking an initial concept and pushing it. For the past year I have been working as a freelance designer, mostly visualising layouts for subjects such as ancient history, wildlife and dinosaurs.

I like exploring new ideas and creating dynamic layouts and covers, and have a love of contemporary design and illustration - I have produced illustrations in the past, mostly for magazine editorials, my style is a mix of collage and drawing and I'm currently updating my illustration portfolio.

I'm easy to work with, a family man with two teenage sons ( and everything that goes with that!), I love music, especially Tamla Motown, Northern Soul and early reggae.

I can provide a ton of samples if you're interested in seeing more - so please contact me if you have a publishing project you want to see realised!

Services

Cover Design

Book Interior Design

Non-Fiction

Children’s Non-Fiction Comics Non-Fiction History Nature Travel

Fiction

Comics & Graphic Novels

Languages

English

Certifications

BA hons Graphic Design

Work experience

Senior Designer and Brand manager

Dorling Kindersley

Jun, 1999 — May, 2019 (almost 20 years)

Worked in the Licensed books department initially on a variety of brands, over time I became responsible mainly for the Marvel and DC comics titles. This involved styling spreads for new presentations, and producing and overseeing layouts from digital artwork supplied by licensors. As part of this role I liased closely with licensors, most of whom were in the US, and during this time I travelled to work in the offices of Disney and WCW Wrestling as well as attending business meetings with both Marvel and DC Comics. In the last ten years of this period I was the design lead on large format titles, including those involving new game based licences such as “Star Wars; the Old Republic”, and “World of Warcraft”, and most recently the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I worked closely with my editorial counterparts, production department and licensors to achieve high-quality books within often very challenging deadlines.

Senior Art Editor

Quarto Publishing

Jul, 1998 — Jul, 1999 (about 1 year)

Worked on childrens non-fiction books, all of which required hard and soft novelty components, paper engineering and box packaging. My job required visualising new ideas and concepts, comissioning designers and illustrators, sourcing and costing components and overseeing live projects through to final print.

Designer

David West Children's books

Sep, 1995 — Jul, 1998 (almost 3 years)

Provided detailed hand drawn visuals from authors’ synopses, commissioning artwork and designing final layouts on-screen. Subjects included dinosaurs, animals, vehicles, buildings, space travel, the human body, the natural world and history.

Designer

Kingfisher books

Sep, 1992 — Sep, 1995 (about 3 years)

Beginning as studio assistant, my duties involved layout paste-up and preparing camera ready artwork. I was later promoted to designer working in the Illustrated Reference and Encyclopedias division.