Our 2025 Showcase is here, and it’s more dazzling than ever.
Looking through our artists’ most recent work to select pieces for our annual presentation is one of our favourite projects. It gives us a moment to reflect on all their fantastic creative achievements and another bumper year full of awards, best-sellers, events, multimedia projects and accolades.
The illustrations featured are doors into, and windows onto a myriad of fantastic worlds; from enchanted forests to frogs in space, exciting detective mysteries to talking poos! Whether creating their own stories in picture books, graphic novels or comics, or bringing life and atmosphere to the work of authors, each of these artists is making their mark on the enduring magic of sitting down with a book.
We are delighted to welcome Billy Partridge to the Arena family. This dynamic new creative talent has hit the ground running with his amazing debut picture book, Hupo and the Wonder Thief, published by Flying Eye Books. It’s Billy’s work you can see featured, we think his work makes a very striking addition to the Arena portfolio.
As you turn the pages you will discover the wacky and wild worlds created by Aleksei Bitskoff. Inspired by his intricate sketch book illustrations and passion for puzzles, Aleksei is the creative talent behind the best-selling Little Badman series and works both with pen and ink and digitally.
From space and alien worlds, we head far south to meet Hell’s Angel, created by animation supremo Chris Garbutt, who recently produced the hugely successful animated Netflix series We Lost Our Human. Chris’s bold, contemporary comic style has wide mass-market appeal across numerous platforms.
Dotty Sutton is one of our newest artists and has proven to be a huge hit in the world of cover design. Her talent for character design comes in part from her background in model making and she now has a number of successful public events under her belt from which she has had the chance to meet and inspire fans of her work.
With the increasing popularity of illustrated elements in older fiction titles we have seen Euan Cook flourish as an illustrator. His strong confident line work and skill for incorporating action and adventure into his creations have led to him becoming a much sought after creative for numerous publishing projects.
From a background in printmaking Graham Carter’s graphic style and visually engaging creations earned him a well-deserved place on the shortlist for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Graham has recently moved towards fiction projects developing a unique action-packed artistic treatment for his new Sinister Secrets sci-fi series collaboration with author Sean Farrell.
From sci-fi to science we couldn’t help but chuckle our way through the Poo Crew Adventures, expertly illustrated by comic genius and talented animator Steve May. Featuring panel illustrations throughout, this hilarious dive into the world of poo brilliantly showcases Steve’s exceptional talent for visual storytelling, perfectly tailored to the project’s target audience. His work is endlessly engaging and full of fun, we can’t wait to see what comes next.
With the huge announcement that Natalie Smillie's work will be featuring on the covers of the Pocket Potter guides as part of the Harry Potter franchise her profile has reached new highs. Natalie’s work is adaptable and accessible, with a thoughtful use of colour and clever image placement on the page.
Often based on real locations and scenarios, Richard Johnson always manages to bring a touch of enchantment to the work he creates for both picture books and fiction titles. Having worked with a huge number of clients outside the publishing world including Cadbury, the BBC, Harrods and Marks & Spencer his versatility and adaptability have led to him being honoured with numerous awards.
With delicate, classical sensibilities, Matthew Land’s work has an evocative sense of timeless charm. With a deep knowledge of the world of literature, Matthew has an innate skill for visualising characters and environments, and we look forward to spotlighting some of the fantastic Alice in Wonderland-inspired characters featured in the forthcoming fiction title by best-selling author Anna James.
With many strings to her bow, Frances Castle combines running a record label, print making, and collecting vintage ephemera with writing and illustrating a string of successful graphic novels. The images we selected for the brochure can be found in Stagdale Part 3 and showcase Frances' passion for history and storytelling.
Joe Lillington is a font of knowledge across a huge number of subjects. His skill for research and passion for facts means he has a number of incredibly successful non-fiction titles in his back catalogue. With a confident use of line and an eye for detail, Joe has recently collaborated on several exciting fiction projects.
As one of the lead creatives illustrating titles for the Harry Potter brand, Tomislav Tomic’s exquisitely detailed fantastical illustrations are truly captivating. Inspired by engravings from the Renaissance period, his black and white line drawings capture the magic and fantasy hidden in each project he works on.
Award-winning artist and full-time illustrator Marie-Alice Harel has an ethereal quality to her work, weaving stories like spider webs and masterfully using colours to create atmosphere. Her craftsmanship is unparalleled and beautifully highlighted in her debut picture book commission Pandora and the Story Forge.
Gaia Alessi has a versatility to her work which lends itself beautifully to numerous projects. Her feature page perfectly encapsulates this with a striking cover design for an older audience from the Aliya series by Laila Rifaat alongside some charming character pieces taken from The Little Minotaur which would have a broad appeal to a slightly younger audience.
And last but by no means least we just have time to visit the animal packed world of Kristyna Litten, she has an energetic quality to her work which translates wonderfully to the vibrant nature of the projects she works on. Her critter creations are an utter delight and the perfect way to end our 2025 showcase.
We are proud to represent each of our talented artists. Arena Illustration is home to an enviable and carefully crafted list of award-winning and best-selling illustrators and authors. The key to our on-going success is a shared creative vision. We have many years’ experience carefully carving out successful careers for each of our artists that we represent. So please take a moment to take a look at the full 2025 showcase HERE.
You can find us on Instagram where we share project highlights, event information, awards news, sketch book sneak peeks and tutorial videos.
We also have a mood board function on our website to help you collate your very own personal project profile. We would be more than happy to help you choose the perfect creative for your project so please call us on 020 8555 9827 or email us info@arenaillustration.com we look forward to speaking to you.
