Robert Dickson is a Northampton-based freelance illustrator and character designer, who has studied at the University of Northampton.
Robert generally works in traditional materials as well as digital media, creating illustrations that tell stories or provoke thought. A good majority of his work revolves around characters (often inspired by animals) that observe and comment on the more baffling aspects of human behaviour and culture. He specialises in children’s book illustration and editorial work, aspiring for his work to have a positive influence on future children and humans.
Contact:
07807 317373
Final Major Project
For this self-initiated project I chose to illustrate a children’s picture book for a book illustration competition called the Carmelite Prize, which is run annually by Hachette Children’s Group publishing.
As an illustrator I see myself working in the children’s book illustration industry, so I wanted to do a project that would help me to understand the creation process behind a picture book. Moreover, this competition gave me a chance to get my work noticed by real children’s book publishers.
Project: Love Poems
In this brief I created a series of illustrations for three love poems found in The Folio Book of Love Poems, according to a competition brief set by The Folio Society.
This assignment got me to consider how I could use colour, composition and textures to metaphorically capture the abstract, emotive elements of my subject matter instead of the literal ones.
This assignment got me to consider how I could use colour, composition and textures to metaphorically capture the abstract, emotive elements of my subject matter instead of the literal ones.
Goodnight Mr. Tom
Project: Goodnight Mr Tom Book Cover
This project involved me creating a cover design for the fictional children’s book Goodnight Mister Tom, for the 2020 Penguin book cover competition. It asked for a cover with an imaginative concept that would attract the book’s target child audience.
With my idea I wanted to symbolise the book’s two main characters through two trees, as it referenced how the author Michelle Magorian originally got her inspiration for them.
With my idea I wanted to symbolise the book’s two main characters through two trees, as it referenced how the author Michelle Magorian originally got her inspiration for them.
