Nice To Meet You (again)
A reintroduction to my blog for 2026. Hi, I'm Nicola, a picturebook illustrator and author. Nice to meet you (again).
Summer roundup
Pottery wheel throwing, hand letting, picturebook updates, and new postcard illustrations.
San Francisco dollhouse
I accidentally bought a gigantic dollhouse! Let's find out more about it and take a look inside.
Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2025
I just got back from my first visit to the Bologna Children's Book Fair (BCBF) and (like loads of other illustrators) I've decided to tell you all about it. Read on for pop-ups, sketching, Sydney Smith, and The Wall.
Miniature Jewellery Box
DIY 1:12 scale dolls house miniature jewellery box. Handmade from stuff lying around the craft room.
Map Fold Book Instructions
Instructions for creating square and rectangle map fold booklets, and some creative ideas on what to do with them.
winter round-up
A round-up of the arty things I've been doing over the last few winter months. Featuring illustration, book making, knitting and lemon pigs.
Coin Operated Fun (folktale week 2024)
Coin Operated: An illustrated story created for folktale week 2024
Wobbly Taxidermy
Feeling a bit wobbly, I made wobbly drawings of the not so wobbly things in Reading Museum. A roundup of the October session of USk Reading.
Tiny Funfair & A Coffee Van
Urban sketching around Reading town centre on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Screen Printing at Print Club London
Follow my day screen printing at Print Club London. I made lots of halftone flies and then embellished them with neon wings and eyes.
Tiny Frida Kahlo
follow along as I create a 1:12 scale paper collage portrait of Frida Kahlo in a gold leaf (haha) frame.
Drawn Back In
This month I've been drawn back in to drawing from life. Here I share my many life drawing and USk sketches from March.
The Boy and The Swan
This past week Instagram has been full of fantastic stories and illustrations as part of Folktale Week. This was my first year joining and I wrote my own story called…
Autumn Round-up
I've been super busy the last few months, so here's an autumn round-up of some of the stuff I've been up to recently! Folktale Week I'll start with the thing…
The Tunnel
Illustration inspired by the little brown bat that lived in "The Tunnel" on my terraced street.
Angel: Nativity illustration
A picture book Nativity illustration inspired by the time I was an angel in the primary school Christmas play.