Me and Norman is the collaborative efforts of Me, Steph Simpson and my imaginary friend, Norman Nanimal. Norman sits at my side and helps me make creative decisions - I’m the sensible one and he’s responsible for the chaos and a little silliness. With Norman, I am fearless and able to stare a blank page straight in the eye and conquer it! I am very focused on the process and place that I climb into when illustrating – a world that I am unable to leave once the image starts to take form, where I am not so easily distracted like usual. Illustration is about storytelling, and making images is a kind of game I play to amuse myself. Above all else, I see myself as a storyteller and this extends into many spheres of my life. If it helps to know: I have a B.Tech in Fine Art, specialising in printmaking (NMU 2010), an Honours in Visual Arts, specialising in illustration (SU 2014 cum laude) and I just completed my Masters in Visual Arts (UNISA 2024). I lecture Illustration at a creative college in Cape Town and freelance as an illustrator. See my latest projects on Instagram: @me_and_norman_gold for collages with gold leaf, poetry and nudes in the landscape. @me_and_norman_colour for colour illustrations in gouache and Procreate.…

Me and Norman by Steph Simpson

Me and Norman is the collaborative efforts of Me, Steph Simpson and my imaginary friend, Norman Nanimal. Norman sits at my side and helps me make creative decisions - I’m the sensible one and he’s responsible for the chaos and a little silliness. With Norman, I am fearless and able to stare a blank page straight in the eye and conquer it! I am very focused on the process and place that I climb into when illustrating – a world that I am unable to leave once the image starts to take form, where I am not so easily distracted like usual. Illustration is about storytelling, and making images is a kind of game I play to amuse myself. Above all else, I see myself as a storyteller and this extends into many spheres of my life. If it helps to know: I have a B.Tech in Fine Art, specialising in printmaking (NMU 2010), an Honours in Visual Arts, specialising in illustration (SU 2014 cum laude) and I just completed my Masters in Visual Arts (UNISA 2024). I lecture Illustration at a creative college in Cape Town and freelance as an illustrator. See my latest projects on Instagram: @me_and_norman_gold for collages with gold leaf, poetry and nudes in the landscape. @me_and_norman_colour for colour illustrations in gouache and Procreate.…

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Me and Norman is the collaborative efforts of Me, Steph Simpson and my imaginary friend, Norman Nanimal.

Norman sits at my side and helps me make creative decisions - I’m the sensible one and he’s responsible for the chaos and a little silliness. With Norman, I am fearless and able to stare a blank page straight in the eye and conquer it!

I am very focused on the process and place that I climb into when illustrating – a world that I am unable to leave once the image starts to take form, where I am not so easily distracted like usual. Illustration is about storytelling, and making images is a kind of game I play to amuse myself. Above all else, I see myself as a storyteller and this extends into many spheres of my life.

If it helps to know: I have a B.Tech in Fine Art, specialising in printmaking (NMU 2010), an Honours in Visual Arts, specialising in illustration (SU 2014 cum laude) and I just completed my Masters in Visual Arts (UNISA 2024). I lecture Illustration at a creative college in Cape Town and freelance as an illustrator.

See my latest projects on Instagram:
@me_and_norman_gold for collages with gold leaf, poetry and nudes in the landscape.
@me_and_norman_colour for colour illustrations in gouache and Procreate.

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Masters in Visual Arts at University of South Africa
October 22, 2024 - May 23, 2024
Creativity, imagination and play in children’s picture books: the importance of creative problem-solving. This practice-based study set out to identify creative triggers found in contemporary children’s picture books that encourage playful approaches in readers with a view to them applying their imaginations as they navigate their way through the books’ spreads. Through the lenses of narratology, psychology and phenomenology, the study unpacks postmodern narrative devices found in contemporary picture books with reference to the work of Martin Salisbury, Perry Nodelman and Donald Winnicott. Eleven creative triggers were identified and used to examine contemporary children’s picture books. These were then put into practice to create a series of books for my art practice under the title Cautionary tales for Grown-Ups from Children/Cautionary tales for Children from Grown Ups.

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