Illustrator Research: Catherine Rayner

• I have chosen to research Catherine Rayner because i am a great admirer of her work and illustrative style. Also, the projects she works on and commissions she completes are things i would love to do in the future. 
• I would describe her style to be very loose, both in terms of the watercolours she uses and the linework which complements it. She also uses screen printing with acrylic inks to create wonderfully soft textured backgrounds for her illustrations.

• Catherine Rayner predominantly works within the children's publishing industry, she has created numerous picturebooks but she also creates greetings cards (often with the characters from her picturebooks) and exhibits her work in galleries too. 
• Rayner's primary target audience for her children's books is obviously a young audience but arguably, the quality of her illustrations has drawn interest from a wider audience, people who read her books fall in love with the characters and i think it is with a wider audience in mind that she creates her greetings cards and gallery exhibition pieces for. 
• Some of Rayner's more notable clients are some of the biggest children's book publishers, Little Tiger Press and Macmillan Children's Books. 
• I would love to have worked on any of Catherine Rayner's picturebooks. The characters are inviting, the techniques she uses are really hands on which i love to do myself and the finished books are always stunning. 
• In terms of self promotion, Catherine Rayner has her portfolio website, she has work up in over a dozen galleries and theres no better method of exposure for illustrators than having your name printed on books that go on sale on a global scale. 
• As noted before, Rayner exhibits her work in many galleries but most of her work probably comes from her two main children's book publishers. 
• Catherine Rayner does also work on commissions. She recently some silk screen printed illustrations for Mackie's, an ice cream brand in Scotland.

• Rayner's children's books could be seen as self initiated work as she creates the stories when she inspired to. 
• Her books, prints and greetings cards are so successful that Rayner does not seem to need to supplement her practice with any other work. (Apart from the odd commission). 
• Researching Catherine Rayner's work has informed my plans for my statement of intent mainly by influencing the way i will approach each task. I am already keen to create a picturebook (or most of one!) and looking at her fun, loose and hands-on approach to creating stories will really help when i make mine. Her application of picturebook characters to greetings cards is also really appealing, i want to further the characters i make in a similar if possible.