Stephen Stone – Designer

ABOUT

Hello my name is Steve. I am a full time freelance illustrator offering services for illustrated books.

I live and work in Derbyshire, England with my soulmate Claire.

My creative career began after I’d completed a degree in Fashion Design working as designer for childrenswear and corporate wear companies. After a while I headed in another direction and became a University Lecturer for 12 years, teaching a variety of subjects in fashion design to post and undergraduate students. During this time I completed a Masters in Visual Communication, specialising in Narrative Illustration.

Having worked with some of the worlds leading publishers, I have now branched out into the independent market. This has been an important step to take for the studio’s practice. Seeing it as a progression and a journey into a changing world that sees individuals working more closely together. There is a strong desire to connect on a personal level, to offer and share directly my professional skills in art direction.

APPROACH/TECHNIQUE/ETHOS

Creating memorable character design is at the heart of my work. I make use of hand drawn and painted elements that are then coloured digitally. Every collaboration is unique to me and I adapt my skills to suit what's best for the story. Colour is a passion and my design experience allows me to balance many different palettes in my work. I do not entertain any form of AI in both my process and as an inspiration tool.

This path you are about to take is indeed a major investment in your projects future and success. It’s also very important to me that your project creates a spark for my own imagination, I want to create the best work I can for you.

Being a versatile illustrator, I’m up for most subject matter, however anything that’s religious in nature or has moral implications I would need to decline.

I particular love funny, zany humour, anything nature inspired, animal/human characters and emotive tales - these all get me up in the morning!

If you think we’ll make a perfect match then please do get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!

PROCESS

Books are fully illustrated complete with text layout and cover design. Clients are presented with a print ready file for upload to a POD or matched to any specifications for a conventional printer.

For standard 24/32 formatted paged picture-books, a PDF pack is sent out, outlining a visual of working processes along with price structures and scheduling.

BESPOKE ILLUSTRATION

Quotes can be provided for individual illustrations suitable for posters, covers only and character design.

FORMATS PROVIDED:

- PDF Press Ready CMYK

- HR JPEG/ RGB (Suitable to use for website/social media /marketing/ prints)

- EPUB Fixed layout Format.