A black and grey dry point etching of a girl riding a black bear with wings at night.

Illustration

.In 2023 I embarked upon the Children’s Book Illustration Course at the Cambridge School of Art. It has been an epic journey in developing my practice, learning new skills, and learning the language of children’s book illustration. I have been taught by some exceptional tutors and have made some great friends with fellow students. Please do go and have a look at some of my cohorts Incredible work over on https://www.cambridgemashow.com. Below are some examples of work I created, including sketch book and development work and dummy books that I produced on the course. To see more please visit my other instagram  @zoez.ansari

A dark blue and white Tetra Pak print of a white hard deer.
A painting of white animals against a blue background.
A painting of apink and white flying horse at night. Children's book illustration. Zoe Ansari.
A painting of men walking in front of houses.
A painting of a red headed girl walking past windows staring at her.
An illustrative painting of a red fox in his hole. Part of a children's picture book.
A blue and off white painting of the sea god Mananan from the Isle of White.
A black and white dry-point etching a a black bear with a girl sitting on a rug.
A painting of a wren sitting in a bush in brown and off white and black.

Hunting The Wren & Other Folklore Animals

Hunting The Wren and Other Folktale animals was one of my master stage projects which explores old British Folktales. In one particular tale, ‘The Hunting of The Wren’ a young girl is banished from The Isle of White by the Sea God Mananan. In order to return she has to make herself small by turning herself into a wren.

A full cover spread in green of Hunting The Wren and Other Folktale Animals by Zoe Ansari
A double spread painting of Tehi-Tegi being followed by the men of the Isle of white in browns and off whites.
An illustration of Tehi-Tegi being watched by the Islanders of The Isle of Mann.
A double page spread of an illustrated book of a blue and green sea god Manannan banishing Tehi Tegi.

Night & Day

Night & Day is a work in progress. It started this interactive toy with backgrounds on Masters stage. You have cut out animals that you van move around in front of back grounds and move between night and day scenes.

A blue, pink and white illustration of flying horses at nigh.
A green, off-white and black illustration of horses frolicking in a field.
A blue, white, green and cream illustration of a street scene of town houses and children playing in a play ground.
An off white and coloured illustration of a children's play ground

The Night Shift

Follow this urban Fox as he/she has to use his cunning to get a bite to eat in the city.

A cover for a dummy book of an orange fox against a grey and white back ground casting a shadow on a building opposite. The fox is walking along the wall.
A blue and orange and yellow illustration of a fox being fed sausages at someones back door
A black and orange illustration of a fox in a hole underground. A skull and bones in the earth

ClarA & Bear

Bear does everything for Clara and she knows it until one day bear has to go away and Clara has to do things for herself for a change.

A black and white drypoint etching of a girl flying on a black bear.
A grey & white pencil sketch of a girl riding a bear across a city scape.
A girl sitting on a rug with a black bear.

Observational drawing

Some examples of some quick observational sketches I made whilst on the masters course. I spent a lot of time making bad drawings of people but have leant how important it is to the development of my work.

 

A brown, black and off-white pen and ink sketch of a girl drinking a cup of tea.
A rusty brown, black and cream pen and ink sketch of a teenage girl sat looking at her smart phone.
A green and white and orange picture of a headland with houses and Cyprus trees in Kassiopi Greece.
a green white and red painting sketch of boats mored in front of a hillside.
A painting sketch of Greek vases in red, brown, black and beige.
A painting of a beach scene on Kassiopi Island in Corfu.
A turquoise and orange painterly sketch of a cat.