Ethel Gutierrez

A self-initiated brief focused on exploring paper engineering and pop-up books for children. I created a storyboard for a fantasy adventure story selected from an online text, designing environments and characters, and experimenting with pop-up mechanisms I could implement into the pages to encourage interactivity. The final outcome was two double-page spreads fully coloured with some pop-up elements.

• Children’s Book Illustrator
• Freelance Digital Illustrator
• Illustrator

A self-initiated brief, involving five nursery rhyme cards designed to support young children's learning through familiar songs and visual storytelling. The playful illustrations can help make the activity more interactive and assist children in recognising the rhymes through imagery.

• Children’s Book Illustrator
• Freelance Digital Illustrator
• Illustrator

A collaborative concept developed by a fellow student during my Illustration degree, creating a garden-themed puppet theatre to support children's social-emotional learning through imaginative play and visual storytelling. I contributed to the design of the theatre stage and created the base structure including some of the visual elements, and also designed half of the stick puppets, as displayed on the image. A guide booklet was also created to go alongside the theatre as a set, displaying playful character introductions and narrative prompts to help teachers facilitate classroom learning and ask thought-provoking questions.

• Children’s Book Illustrator
• Freelance Digital Illustrator
• Illustrator

A self-initiated brief involving a magazine spread design for children, introducing the concept of the human microbiome and teaching children about the microorganisms that live in our bodies and how they contribute to our health. The spread uses bright colours and playful characters to communicate the scientific topic with a more friendly and welcoming approach, including a flap mechanism in the design to add some interactivity for children to actively engage with.

• Children’s Book Illustrator
• Freelance Digital Illustrator
• Illustrator

'A School Day of Big Feelings' is a self-authored book I created for my own initiated project in university, targeted towards children of ages 3-5. The story is about a boy who experiences a particularly challenging day in school and is overwhelmed by a mix of different emotions. The book aims to promote emotional literacy, empathy, and resilience, supporting children in understanding more complex emotions, and teaching them that it is okay to have bad days sometimes.

• Children’s Book Illustrator
• Freelance Digital Illustrator
• Illustrator

The live brief was to produce an artwork based on the overarching theme of 'The Edge' while expressing my individual artistic practice, visual language and personal interests. The project was for my university's graduate illustration showcase and was featured both online and its printed book edition. My artwork was created around the concept of children's everyday experiences and emotional regulation, highlighting how children can sometimes feel overwhelmed or on edge, and the importance of understanding emotions and healthy coping strategies to manage them.

• Children’s Book Illustrator
• Freelance Digital Illustrator
• Illustrator