As an illustrator and children’s picture book illustrator, I’m passionate about creating artwork that sparks curiosity, nurtures imagination, and brings stories to life in meaningful ways. My work is based in gentle storytelling, expressive characters, and a deep sensitivity to the environmental world of children.
My name is Ruth Goodwin, my background is in retail and products, I have studied a BA Hons Illustration Degree. Much of my inspiration comes from the natural world – botanicals, changing seasons, quiet landscapes, and small, often overlooked details in daily life. I’m particularly drawn to stories that encourage a sense of wonder and care for the environment, and I aim to reflect these values through my visual storytelling. Environmental themes, empathy, and connection are threads that often run through my books.
I like illustrators like, Sarah Massini, Beatrice Blue, Beatrice Alemagna, Helen Kellock, Victoria Semykina, Emily Hamilton, Luch Fleming, Clara Anganuzzi and of course Oliver Jeffers.
I love illustrating stories that explore nature, relationships, and quiet moments with subtle humour and friendly warmth. My style blends traditional and digital techniques with surface pattern design and an emphasis on hand drawn lines, soft textured, and atmospheric colour.
I aim to create illustrations that feel timeless and heartfelt – images that children can return to again, and again, discovering something new each time. I strive to enhance my narrative through thoughtful visual storytelling, always keeping the child reader at the centre. I believe picture books have the power to comfort, inspire and open up conversations, especially with environmental issues and the natural world.
Conceptual Framework:
Creating illustrations that are heartfelt and timeless, whether I’m illustrating a tender moment between characters or a leafy woodland scene, I like to create imagery that invites children in and encourage them to look closely.
Creative Process:
My creative process combines traditional painterly watercolour painting with surface pattern design and carefully chosen digital brushes and layering techniques. This approach allows me to maintain the tactile charm of handmade work while adapting it fluidly for narrative storytelling. Each illustration begins with sketchbook exploration and developed with attention to detail, atmosphere, and a strong sense of place.
Surface pattern design plays a significant role in my practice, extending my illustrations beyond the page. I create patterns inspired by nature, botanicals and environmental motifs, which develop into products such as prints, stationery and gift wrapping. These designs are sold through my website, giving my work a life beyond books and allowing me to share my aesthetic with a wider audience. This part of my practice strengthens my design sensibility, informs my compositional choices, and deepens my connection with colour, rhythm, and repeated forms – elements that also flow back into my picture book work.
Visual Language and Aesthetic Choices:
My aesthetic choices lean towards soft pastel colour palettes, hand drawn textures, and organic forms. I use negative space, composition, and subtle visual storytelling to evoke emotion and invite children to look slowly and closely. I aim to create imagery that feels gentle yet immersive – narrative worlds that encourage observation, comfort and wonder. I believe picture books are powerful spaces for learning, reflection, and emotional growth.
Impact and engagement
Through my practise, I aim to create picture books that engage children not only visually but also emotionally and intellectually. My illustrations are designed to encourage careful looking, spark curiosity about nature, and nurture empathy. I want my work to create moments of connection – between children and stories, children and their caregivers, and children and the wider world. Beyond the page, I see opportunities for engagement through workshops, school visits, and collaborative projects, offering children accessible and enriching experiences with illustration and storytelling. My ultimate aim is for my work to inspire both wonder and responsibility- a sense of joy in the beauty of the world and an awareness of how we can care for it.
Exhibition and Display
In addition to book- based storytelling, I am committed to sharing my illustration practice through exhibitions and displays. Presenting work in galleries or public spaces allows me to experiment with scale, sequencing, and immersive presentation- extending the narrative beyond the page. Exhibiting gives me the opportunity to highlight the research and process behind my illustrations, as well as to explore environmental themes in new, engaging formats. I aim to create displays that are interactive and accessible to children and families, encouraging audiences to connect with illustration as both art and storytelling. My aim is to create a gallery style space on my portfolio website, which will be available and accessible to children and families.
Conclusion:
Illustration has become a way for me to quietly connect with others – especially children – through storytelling that is both tender and meaningful. I believe that picture books are one of the earliest forms of art and narrative children engage with, and they have the power to shape how young readers see themselves, others, and the natural world. Creating imagery that holds space for emotion, beauty, and wonder is both a joy and a responsibility I carry with care.
Looking ahead, I aspire not only to continue illustrating children’s books but also to write and illustrate my own picture book stories. I’m excited to bring my voice more fully into the storytelling process, combining my visual language with narratives that speak to the values I hold close – empathy, environmental connection, and quiet observation.
My hope is that my work, whether as an illustrator or author- illustrator, will offer children moments of calm, recognition, and inspiration – books they will return to, grow with and remember.
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