Stephen Stone – Designer

AVAILABILIT End March 2026

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

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.

PROCESS

BOOKS

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.

Please note: I do not accept requests that have religious or moralistic themes. And I do not entertain any form of AI art this includes any images submitted as inspirations by clients. Any such use will warrant an instant decline of request.