Illustrator: Laura Clements

Laura Clements – illustrator and book cover designer. IFWG was pleased indeed with her collaboration with author Esme Carpenter for her young teen book, Against The Elements. Since then the book was re-issued in the UK and a new cover was created–but IFWG Publishing Australia was so impressed with the 4 elements motif, it was reproduced in the background illustration on the rear of the cover.

Laura is a compulsive daydreamer and self-confessed perfectionist. Born in Farnborough, Hampshire, in the UK she started to draw as soon as she could hold a pencil, inspired by everything animated and about animals. Soon after, she began writing stories. Since the age of eight it has been her life ambition to illustrate – and design the covers for – her own books.

At A-Level her studies included Fine Art and Graphic Design, and she was awarded The Farnborough Sixth Form College Award for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design 2008. She faced an existential crisis when choosing a university course, torn between her creative loyalties. Eventually, she set off to the University of East Anglia to study English Literature with Creative Writing. She graduated in July 2011.

Her main artistic approach is experimentation. She loves working in mixed media (including tea, straw, sand etc.), particularly by layering texture upon texture of “traditional” materials and then manipulating them digitally. She also enjoys working with typography, a design element often neglected.

Her greatest inspiration is coffee.

The original cover of Against The Elements (IFWG Publishing, 2011)