Ooh La La!

It sounds rather fancy to say, but Claire is a New York Times best selling children’s book illustrator who got her first book deal in 2016 and has never looked back. Her ongoing collaboration with Beth Lincoln on The Swifts has twice become an instant New York Times bestseller, and the first book in her debut series – Marty Moose in First Class Mischief – was published in February 2025 with Walker Books to rave reviews. Here’s her story in her own words…

A playful watercolor illustration of a spotted dog with wide eyes holding a stick in its mouth, with a few fallen yellow and orange leaves around.

My first love …

I grew up on the Wirral in the North of England. I spent most of my childhood in a cupboard under the stairs drawing. It wasn’t a punishment; my dad built me an art den there and I suppose that was my first art studio. When I got too big to fit I did what normal kids do and drew on the kitchen table. I drew relentlessly and I wanted to do it at University but an uninformed careers advisor told me that drawing wasn’t a proper career, and that I should choose graphic design instead. So I did.

A watercolor illustration of a rooster standing on a patch of ground. The rooster has a white body with black and purple shading, a red comb, red wattles, and a blue tail with black accents.

An accidental break-up …

That choice meant I didn’t draw for over 15 years. Instead, I spent two decades in graphic design. I started in Preston and ended up in London doing an MA in motion graphics. I joined an agency rebranding TV channels, which all seemed very cool, but by my mid-thirties, I had a full-blown mid-life crisis. One rainy afternoon, I wandered into the British Library to escape the weather and  stumbled on the final day of a small but perfectly-formed exhibition of children’s book illustration. I was transfixed. Hours later, I left feeling like I might finally know what I wanted to do with my life.

A watercolor illustration of a tall, thin, gray wolf with exaggerated features, standing on two legs with a long snout and shaggy fur.

Did you know?

  • I went to the same school as beloved children’s author illustrator Shirley Hughes.

    Ironically, this is where I was told I couldn’t make a career out of illustration and that graphic design was my only option … I am not bitter about this, at all.

  • I absolutely love horses. As a child I worked at a stables every Saturday and Sunday!

    Alongside drawing, horses were my passion and I would compete in dressage competitions and go on horse riding holidays. I took a solo trip to a ranch in Arizona and considered staying for a few months to work, until I realised the amount of suncream I would need to buy made that impossible …

  • For four years, I dedicated all my spare time to making a hand-drawn short film called the Scapegoat.

    It was based on the true story of a man called George Edalji who was wrongly imprisoned but was freed after 7 years with the help of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My film won Best Short Film at the British Animation Film Festival in 2015.

  • I’m an avid snooker fan, and it’s all thanks to my Nan!

    Together, we would watch hours of snooker on her black and white telly whilst eating corn beef sandwiches. I still tune in to all the major tournaments every year and I’ve even been to Alexandra Palace and watched Mark Williams play Mark Selby in the Masters. I didn’t have corned beef sandwiches though, I ate a hot dog instead.

Reunited at last …

A whimsical illustration of a paintbrush with a smiling face at the top, appearing as a person. The paintbrush's handle is green, and it has a yellow band near the bristles. The bristles are orange and also have a smiling face. The paintbrush is holding hands with a person-like figure that has a body painted with red and yellow stripes and a smiling face on its head, with thin arms and legs.

From there, a trail of serendipitous breadcrumbs appeared which I dutifully followed: an evening picture book course, signing with an agent, then going part-time at work. A year later, I plucked up the courage to leave my well-paid job in TV, with no formal training, no savings, and no clients - just a small portfolio and an agent who believed in me. Almost a decade on (to my surprise, and probably everyone else’s), I’ve illustrated over 50 books. Now I draw relentlessly - I’m making up for all those lost years!

Claire throughout the ages …

Child's drawing of a toy stroller with a doll's head inside, decorated with a butterfly and red wheels.
Young girl with short brown hair, smiling and laughing, sitting on a bus or train with a window showing green trees outside.
Two children, a boy with curly hair and a girl with straight hair in a bob cut, smiling outdoors near a body of water with trees and houses in the background.
A young girl with short hair and glasses standing next to a man with glasses in a park, with green doodles including a top hat, mustache, and eyes drawn on the photo.
A woman and a man sitting at a table inside a bookstore or library, with copies of the book "Wings of Glory" on the table in front of them, and bookshelves filled with children's books behind them.
Two women, one with gray hair wearing a 'Marty Mouse' T-shirt, and the other with red hair wearing a floral dress and pink cat ears headband, smiling and standing close together in a crowded indoor setting.
Woman dressed as a fox, wearing a headband with fox ears, sitting on a park bench with a book titled "Marty Mouse" on her lap, next to a leafless tree against a backdrop of a black iron fence and building.
A woman with shoulder-length red hair smiling and wearing pink and gray bunny ears. She is indoors, in a kitchen with white cabinets, dressed in a red, white, and blue plaid shirt.