Top 5 Questions I was asked at the Museums & Heritage Show 2013

1. Are you Emma?
Well, at least this one was easy to answer! Yes, I am Emma! Yes, I am a one-woman-band. When I first started out I tried to hide the fact out of fear that people might not take me seriously if I wasn’t part of a big slick design company. But now I have realised that people seem to enjoy meeting the person behind the pictures. Everything is drawn by me, by hand, in my studio.

2. Where are you based?
Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Which, contrary to popular belief, isn’t as far away as you might think – just over 2 hours from London by rail. I am very happy to travel (within reason) - it’s the best part of the job! I love to meet people, explore heritage sites, discuss ideas, and take plenty of photographs. I think that’s essential if you are to capture the spirit of a place in an image.

3. Do you write/devise trails? Or just draw the pictures?
This can vary from project to project. For some projects, the client has a really clear idea of exactly what they want, and they have come up with all the content - they just need the pictures. For other projects, the client has an idea that they might like to have, for example, a trail, and know what they would like it to achieve, but haven’t yet come up with how it might work. I am happy to advise on potential solutions. I can also re-write content to make it more child friendly.

4. Do you do the printing too?
Not normally, but this is because over the years I have found that organisations tend to prefer to use their own local printers, with whom they have an established relationship, and generally have better buying power. I can, however, supply print ready artwork ready to go, and can speak to printers about the technical stuff.

5. What if we’ve got no money?
I got asked this one a lot! There is a lot of talk of limited/non-existent budgets and funding cuts. My answer to this is that not all illustration is as expensive as you might think! The best example of this is the simple children’s colouring sheet. The beauty of a colouring sheet is that you can get children to colour it in for free – so you don’t have to pay me to colour it! You can still have a bespoke design which says something about your museum, but a black and white image is inevitably cheaper than a full colour one, making colouring sheets a great budget option. You can also photocopy them as you need them, so don’t need to worry about a big print run if you’re not sure how many you will need.
Another thought is funding bids. If you’ve got no money, but have a project that you would like to do in an ideal world, you can always get in touch. I would be happy to give you a ballpark quote which you can use as part of a funding bid. If you don’t ask, you almost certainly won’t get!