About me

I grew up in rural Dorset, surrounded by art material and creative ideas thanks to my parents, Tim Warnes and Jane Chapman, who are illustrators too. Drawing inspiration from Star Wars, Warhammer, and other sci-fi universes, I would lose myself in large pieces of paper filled with opposing armies of orcs, robots, and historical armies. That’s where my love for storytelling and illustration began.

I became obsessed with figure drawing after struggling through my first life class at school. The numerous sketchbooks from that period provided me a safe space to learn and grow as an artist. My fascination with life drawing evolved into a love for anatomy, which taught me to think in terms of form rather than a flat plane - a way of working and thinking which wasn't previously obvious to me. Weekly life drawing sessions at college further honed my drawing skills.

A little later, I discovered painting and became obsessed with the plein air movement. Plein air work is still a big part of my practice, and has gone on to inform all of my work, especially my linocuts, which I reverse engineer from plein air paintings.

My background in traditional art provides a strong foundation for my illustration work, allowing me to be flexible and tackle a wide range of subject matter. Now, I live in Falmouth working in illustration full time. I still make prints and enjoy painting when I have the time!

About my work

I started working as a professional illustrator in 2020 after a background studying fine art. Since then, I have gone on to bring dozens of projects to life, including the best-selling, award winning, 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds' program, published by Harper Collins, and used in over 5000 schools in the UK. Other notable projects include the 'Jesus Moments' series published by The Good Book Company, murals installed in Dorset County Hospital's A&E unit, and close to 20 privately and traditionally published children's books. I have also completed numerous one-off commissions, including portraits in oils, packaging, pattern design, CD covers, NFT collections, and DnD characters.

I also exhibit paintings and prints as a fine artist. Exhibitions include: David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year (2021, 2022); The Gugg, (2022) Athelhampton House, (2023, solo show); Dorset Arts weeks, (2019, 2021, 2022) various group shows at Sculpture by the lakes (2022, 2023, 2024); and Tye Mill Gallery (2024). I was selected as the ‘Emerging Artist' for Dorset Arts weeks in 2022, which included an article in the Dorset Visual Arts magazine.

I am an effective communicator and enjoy teaching. Previous workshops I have run include: anatomy and gesture for figure drawing, plein air and on-location sketching trips, and printmaking workshops with Dorset Arts Weeks.