About

Imogen Joy is an Illustrator and Surface Pattern Designer based in Sydney.

She was born and raised in England, moving to Australia in her early twenties. Since childhood she loved to draw. She was always surrounded by paper, pencils, paints and so much inspiration thanks to her Artist mother, who used to set up still life studies on their dining table with flowers, driftwood and other treasures scavenged from nature.

A lot of Imogen’s ideas come from her imagination, and the magical aspects of storytelling. She has always been deeply inspired by unique styles of animation, paper art, artists books and picture books as an art form.

As a child Imogen adored picture books. There was one set of stories which she treasured, called ‘The Garden Gang’ written and illustrated by a nine-year-old girl, Jayne Fisher. This was so inspirational to her that she promptly set about writing and illustrating her own story, ‘The Three Fruit Friends’ which she boldly sent to Penguin publishers (her first rejection, aged 8!) That may be many years ago now, but the passion for this beautiful art form has never left her, and illustration has become Imogen’s way of expressing her inner world.

During her years of fine arts training, Imogen always loved to get messy, working on large sheets of paper in charcoal. She also spent many years trying to master the alchemical process of etching.

After her son was born, and with limited space available to do her art making, she packed a lot of her messy materials away from his inquisitive little fingers, which is when she started to train up her digital illustration skills.

Nowadays she loves to work both traditionally in gouache and colour pencil, and with Photoshop/Procreate, depending on the timelines of her projects.

AVATAR BW.png

Background Notes

Imogen completed a Bachelor of Creative Studies, specialising in drawing and installation at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. A few years after moving to Australia she completed a Master of Art in drawing and printmaking at the College of Fine Arts, Sydney, in 2005. Since 2017, Imogen has actively pursued many online courses in illustration and surface pattern design, through the renowned Make Art That Sells, and Make it in Design Schools.

SELECT CLIENTS

Imogen’s clients include:

  • Little Tiger Press

  • Djeco Toys

  • La La Land

  • Australia Post

  • Berbay Books

Awards

2024: World Illustration Awards -Longlisted and Shortlisted in Children’s Publishing category

2020: Make it in Design Winter School Online Global Design Challenge - First Prize in Advanced Track & Highly Commended

2019: Make it in Design Winter School, Global Online Design Challenge - First Prize in Intermediate Track

2006: Great Ports of Australia Painting Prize; Adsteam Marine Shipping Industry Dinner - First Prize (Selected from ten finalists)

2006: Propeller Art & Design Awards, God in the City, Sydney - First Prize