We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Brown a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

Having worked in office jobs for years, I am extremely thankful that I am now finally living the creative life I’ve always dreamed of. I’m new to the illustration industry and can already see that it certainly requires a lot of resilience, dedication and hard work. However, as well as doing what I love, it is also a flexible career that I can work around family commitments, which is obviously a huge advantage when you have a young family. Drawing has always provided me with a sense of calm and can also be a great escape when life becomes more stressful. I can wholeheartedly say that being an illustrator feels like what I was always meant to do.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Sarah Brown, a self-taught traditional and digital artist specialising in Children’s Illustration. I work from my quaint purpose-built studio in South Wales and am deeply inspired by nature, anthropomorphism, and woodland settings. I collect vintage children’s books and it has been said that this comes across in my style, which evokes heart-warming feelings of nostalgia with a modern twist.
I’ve been creative for as long as I can remember and what began as a childhood hobby has become a way of life! Over the years I’ve taught myself to sketch, paint, hand-letter, papercut, crochet toys for my children and paint murals, just to name a few things! However my education and career took a different path, until several years ago when, due to personal circumstances, I had to reassess my future and decided to try and achieve my creative dreams.
Initially I started up a small business making keepsake frames for special occasions, whilst upping my artistic game by watching numerous tutorials on a range of artistic mediums. I also discovered digital art and once I’d invested in an IPad Pro, there was no turning back! I’’ve always had a love of children’s book illustrations and in particular cute animals in cosy settings. The wealth of resources on-line has been crucial in learning the art of both traditional and digital painting and given me a great insight into the children’s book industry. I have completed numerous courses on Skillshare, Domestika and 21Draw and these have been invaluable in getting me to where I am today.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Having spent so much time reading stories to my children at bedtime, my dream has always been to have my own illustrations published. I am on a mentorship program at present, which I hope will help me reach this goal. I am currently looking for representation and have therefore been working hard on my illustration portfolio. I also hope to open an on-line shop in the future, where I can offer prints, greetings cards, and other items displaying my art.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I’m a relatively small fish on Instagram, yet I have recently enjoyed celebrating my first 1000 followers with a “Draw This In Your Style Challenge” of my own. I find Instagram to be an extremely positive platform to inspire and showcase my illustrations and a great place to ‘meet’ like-minded people. In my experience, the artist community on Instagram is a wonderful thing to be part of and I have a very loyal and incredibly supportive following, for which I am very thankful. In terms of building a following, I have found that engaging with other artists’ posts and taking part in illustration challenges are great ways to start. I try to post on specific days whenever possible. However, I think it’s more important to keep creating because you want to, rather than to satisfy the ever changing algorithms!

Contact Info:

• Website: littlenutbrown.co.uk
• Instagram: littlenutbrownillustrations