Dream career in the making for Loughborough High School alumna, Charlotte Jones

What subjects did you study at LHS, and how did this prepare you for your current work? 

My A Level choices were very varied – I studied Art, Classics, Maths and Biology. I always enjoyed art at school, so it was a no brainer to take it to A Level.  

The art rooms always felt like another home for me as it was an extremely supportive environment, especially during sixth form. Other subject teachers were also supportive of my art, and I remember a few of my maths teachers telling me they had popped into the art room to check out what I was creating. My GCSE Latin teacher, who had since left the high school, even came back for my final art show in Sixth Form, which was really touching. 

A lot of the fundamentals and observational skills from fine art are transferable onto other art forms, like illustration. In Sixth Form I was introduced to an artist that really aided my understanding of colour and how these are layered to create richer tones, which has continued to be helpful when creating my illustrations. I know a lot of illustrators have to play around with various colour palettes, but for me it just feels like second nature. 

Have you always been creative and wanted to do illustrations? 

Absolutely. Art has always been such an integral part of my identity. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember – doing various crafts with my mum are my earliest childhood memories. In primary school, I started making picture books for my closest friends, and throughout my time at the High School I always drew my friends’ birthday cards, which is a tradition I’ve still kept going for my best friend from LHS! 

I had always planned to study illustration at university, but studying classics at Sixth Form threw a massive curveball into my plans! After leaving the High School, I went on to study Classical Civilisation at the University of Warwick and tailored my degree to focus on Greek and Roman material culture, covering domestic and public art, statues and mosaics. I absolutely loved my course but there was rarely a lecture where I wasn’t doodling in my notebook. It was such a compulsive habit that my course mates would comment on the occasions when this didn’t happen! Though it never felt like it at the time, this mindless sketching really helped me to figure out what my style was, as well as gaining a better sense of stylised proportions and consistency. 

Can you tell us a bit more about the work you did for The Penguin Cover Design Award and the Macmillan Prize?

The Penguin Cover Design Award provides participants with an experience of responding to a cover design brief. I entered the Children’s category, which tasked us to redesign a cover for Robin Steven’s best-selling Murder Most Unladylike. 

Established in 1985, the Macmillan Prize is a prestigious award aimed at helping those shortlisted for the award to take the first steps in their professional careers. Several notable children’s illustrators have come through this award, including Emily Gravett and Lucy Cousins. It feels amazing to have been recognised by the judging panel for my first ever (author-illustrator) book. 

For the Macmillan Prize for Illustration, the entry criteria was to submit a whole children’s picture book – as you can imagine, this was a lot to fit in alongside a full working week! I had never attempted anything like this before, but I had a lot of fun with the process, and it really confirmed that this is the career I want to pursue. 

What does it mean to you to be celebrated and commemorated for your work, particularly being shortlisted for the Penguin Cover Design Awards and being Highly Commended at the Macmillan Prize for Illustration?

I screamed when I got the email that I had been shortlisted for the Penguin Cover Design Awards, I was in such disbelief that I was genuinely questioning if they had sent the email to the wrong person, there are lots of Charlotte Joneses after all, so I was even more surprised to be awarded second place at the awards event at D&AD London! 

The 2022 awards were the first year where there wasn’t a requirement to be an art student, so I was particularly proud to have been awarded. Before getting this award, I was always concerned that I would be behind those who had studied illustration at university, so it felt great to have this concern put to bed. 

Hearing praise for my work from the Art Director of Children’s Books at Penguin was very encouraging, but I was especially touched that the author of Murder Most Unladylike, Robin Stevens, really connected to my illustrations of her fictional characters – as that’s really the best praise I could’ve hoped for! Robin has continued to be extremely supportive of my work and makes effort to give my art a little boost to her community whenever she can, which is really heartwarming. One year later, I’m currently creating a commission for Robin again as she said she needed to see more of them in my style! 

In June this year, I was also 1 of 20 highly commended at the Macmillan Prize for Illustration, which is an incredible achievement that I could’ve never imagined being successful at. I feel incredibly grateful to have been judged by, and receive feedback from, the art director at Pan Macmillan and other integral members of the publishing house. I know publishing is such a competitive industry, so I feel incredibly lucky that I have been able to access this kind of support through these opportunities and take steps towards making this career a reality. 

Can you tell us a bit more about the Childrens book that you wrote and illustrated?

In truth I probably have about 4 or 5 books that I have begun writing and drawing for! The Bug Garden, which was created specifically to enter the Macmillan Prize, is the first book I have completed from start to finish, both writing and illustrating. I had a lot of fun with this project, and it confirmed that this is certainly what I want to do in the future. I’ve got a meeting with Puffin in a few weeks about publishing, to see if this is something I’d like to think about for the book and to get general insights about the process from the artistic team. 

What would be a dream project for you?

Honestly, having an agent and having illustration jobs come in is already a dream. Walking into a bookshop and seeing my name and illustrations on a book will feel incredible. If I had to narrow it down further, my dream project would be anything that I’m an author-illustrator on. I would also love to make some classics related books, based from my degree and I’ve already got some ideas … so I’ll see how it goes!