Animals, Insects, caterpillars and fish. All the fish. On cards.
I was born in August 1985, the Year of the Ox, on Canvey Island, Essex. Home of the Canvey Island Monster, and Canvey’s finest rock band Dr. Feelgood.
As a sprog, I wanted to become a vet but wasn’t particularly good at science or maths, plus I’m rather allergic to animal fur. Luckily I had a fabulous art teacher who would often praise and encourage me, so I decided I would pursue a career in the arts instead.
Now, ‘the arts’, is a fairly broad industry and while I wish I could say I was a focused and dedicated child/teenager/young adult, this simply wasn’t the case. I went to Southend College to first study 3D product design, then Foundation art, then off to Nottingham Trent University for design for film and television.
The confusion didn’t end, I worked various office jobs and went traveling a fair bit. I managed to settle, rather randomly in Theatre (ticketing) for a while, and that brought me to London. Although I have never really stopped drawing, in 2012 I started (very slowly) taking it more seriously.
I entered art competitions, created my very own website and even exhibited my work. In between this and my office day job, I would create my own greeting cards for friends and family. People would always tell me I should sell these although I never really had the time to draw anything more than one card a month for a friends birthday (I collect friends based on the calendar month of their birthday apparently).
In April 2016 I was given the opportunity to work part time and take my illustration to the next level, now I have the chance to bring all the wonderful creatures that I love so much to life for so many different occasions. And I am very happy and grateful to be able to do that.
You can find my Etsy store here. If there is a card pictured below that you can’t find in my Etsy store then please email me collfacekilla@gmail.com
I re-draw them as they’re ordered which normally takes about 2 days.
