Catherine McArdle

MA Children's Book Illustration

Catherine McArdle grew up in County Durham and graduated from Preston with a first class honours degree in graphic design in 1996 before venturing to London with her portfolio, Dick-Whittington-style to seek her creative fortune. She worked at several respected design consultancies before starting her own freelance business.

She was inspired by working with some of the best illustrators including Marion Deuchars and Benoît Jacques and developed a passion for combining word and image, often finding herself telling stories through her design. She has a love a reading, which was rekindled with a passion when she had children and rediscovered picture books.

She has developed a fondness for making rhyming picture books which she explored in her Masters. She loves working in mixed media - pencil, ink and liquid watercolour, and also home screen printing. When not sketching, she enjoy reading, knitting and being teased relentlessly by her teenage children.