Email: nat@nataliehughes.co.uk
Tweet: @nataliedoodles
She was featured in Olio no. 4
After graduation she visited the London book fair and the italian book fair Bologna. She met with publishers, and agencies.
She signed up with an agency, Advocate art, http://www.advocate-art.com, where she got a few commissions through but found them not to be too friendly or one to one, as they are a large agency.
She was also featured in Anorak magazine, http://www.anorakmagazine.com, and she advised to join social media to find out about new competitions.
She set herself a project - a crowd of creatures, where she drew animals and the collective noun for them.
She went home for a year, working in a hotel and drawing on the side.
She moved to Bristol, and joined Drawn in Bristol, http://drawninbristol.co.uk, a collection of around 50 artists. ere, she rented a desk space too.
Hughes was asked to help artwork for the Big Green Week for Bristol, raising awareness for recycling and eco, for 3 years running. http://biggreenweek.com
She had a solo exhibit where she only had 3 weeks to create, frame and hang the work. Very tough!
She then moved to Kennedy publishers, http://www.kennedypublishing.co.uk, where she stayed for 2 1/2 years. It was a small but busy place and it’s where she learnt indesign. She created spreads and games for children’s magazines, using the characters and where they had strict guidelines on what can be used and poses etc.
In her spare time, she worked with Hansol publishers, a Korean company, to create her first children’s book. She said it was difficult with communication and the language barrier, trying to take note of what they wanted. It is a simple counting book, in Korean, with the english song at the back. The unusual shape and thick card makes it different from most childrens books.
She changed agent and created promotional cards, and posted them to 15 agencies, which she chased up with an email. About 6-7 replied. She advised giving something physical such as a postcard as they can put it on their wall or have something to hold.
She changed and went to Bright publishers - one of the biggest in children’s illustration. Having been there for one year, she finds them a lot more friendly and supportive.
With Oxford Books, she has released 3-4 books with them. They are a good company, however do not deal with royalties, only one off payments.
After a while, she decided to escape and go traveling to New Zealand where she knew some Oxford books suggested a new project for her, and so she took it with her on holiday. It is the Map Colouring book. It took her 3-4 months of drawing and drew the maps on the long plane journey over. They sent her 50 reference photos to draw from, which I thought saved time for her and is useful. All together she did around 1000 drawings, which unfortunately she had to leave behind as they wouldn’t fit in her luggage!
the book reached the top select few book recommended by The Guardian.
She explored some other areas she always wanted to do, such as pottery and embroidery. She and her partner stayed in a camper van and made the most of life.
After traveling, she moved to Leeds, and is now working full-time in a fashion company drawing up patterns and learning the computer software. It's not exactly what she is interested in but good practise.
She has been asked to do another Map book, about the wildlife found in countries.
I found her a real delight to come in, and it showed me that there are jobs out there that may not suit you, but it doesn’t mean you have to stay in them. Even if you’re in a job that isn’t necessarily what you’re interested in, as long as you can learn something from it, it is not a waste.
It was a refeif to see that she had taken time out to go travel and experience new things, getting out of the humdrum of working life, as this is also a possibility i want to follow.
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