Alia

Hello, I’m Jess 👋 I’m a British freelance illustrator, creating playful, character-led illustrations with bright, limited colour palettes and a hand-drawn feel. I help businesses communicate ideas visually, whether that’s telling a story, explaining a concept, or making a brand feel more human and approachable. My character-driven work has been used across event branding, editorial, publishing, packaging, and advertising to help projects stand out and be remembered.    

I am a multi-disciplinary artist, and freelance illustrator and designer specialising in arts education, book arts, stop-frame animation, model making, and graphic design. I am a part-time lecturer on the BA Illustration course at the University of Portsmouth in the School of Architecture, Art and Design. I run my small-press publishing platform, Micro Library Books, exhibiting at illustration fairs in the UK and internationally, and since 2001 I have co-run an arts education partnership, Borbonesa, founded with fellow artists. The arts education projects I work on often focus on wellbeing and community, such as Stories in Transit, which aims to establish the right of displaced individuals to cultural expression.

I have been involved in the music business for over 35 years as a studio engineer and later specialising more in restoring and mastering recordings. I work for both individual artists and record labels. I have a strong interest in helping to promote music and also helping people with music technology – particularly as a moderator on the Sound On Sound forum. I also have an electronic engineering and computing background which helps me to make sense of much of the new technology that it constantly emerging.