Helen Poole was born in Liverpool in 1979, where she still lives and works to this day.

From as early as she can remember Helen has always wanted to be an Illustrator. As a child she was fascinated by children’s books and used to enjoy writing her own poems and rhymes to which she would then illustrate. Her first ‘commission’ came at the age of 11 when she fractured her fingers (thankfully not ones on her drawing hand!) and was asked to do some illustrations of cartoon characters in various states of injury for her local hospital. She knew then she wanted to do this for a living!

Helen graduated in 2001 with a BA Hons in Illustration from the University of Central Lancashire, where she discovered working digitally and never looked back! She draws straight into Photoshop using her Wacom Pen and Tablet and enjoys experimenting with different brush styles and textures. Her versatility has allowed her to work as a Graphic and Product Designer as well as an Illustrator since graduating, working on a wide range of products ranging from toys and games, to magazines, greeting cards, packaging, pet products and of course, children’s books. Her work has been sold to many major high st retailers and publishers both in the UK and Worldwide.

She describes her illustrations as cheerful, fun, colourful and commercial and her favourite aspect of her work is creating new characters and the worlds they inhabit.

She finds she works much better when drinking copious amounts of herbal tea and singing her head off to her extremely eclectic music collection (thankfully she works alone!)

When she’s not illustrating, Helen enjoys reading chick-lit & detective novels, eating out with friends and family, singing with her local choir and the occasional trip to the gym.