Ian Dogstar

Hello I’m Emma and I’m a Graphic Recorder and Illustrator. I create hand drawn visuals to capture content and tell stories – it’s my job to visualise your content so people love it, remember it, and keep coming back to it. As a Graphic Recorder I draw live at events and meetings to capture the key ideas and outcomes. As an Illustrator I create hand drawn digital images to tell stories and explain complex information. My work is, colourful, fun and creative. It starts conversations and helps connect ideas and people. It’s mind-catching and memorable. It’s eye-catching, printable and easily shareable.

I am a photographer passionate about social documentary, environmental portraiture, and visual sociology. I try to place ethics at the core of my practice, often working in socially engaged ways and via partner negotiation and collaboration. Previously I was a firefighter for 24 years, and then transitioned to event production, working globally with renowned clients like Duke Dumont, Wu-Tang Clan, Pusha T and many others. After leaving the touring life, I earned a BA and MFA in photography (with distinction) at the University for the Creative Arts and now here I am doing what I love.

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.