My work is shot through with a vivid inky thread of conversational energy, detail and movement, whether or not words are part of the image.
Organic and idiosyncratic, my work’s inspired by the penmanship of a more elegant era, but with a muscular grasp of experimentation and a healthy distrust of the rules.
An early pioneer of hand-drawn type and 'lettering as image', ink runs through my veins, with equal love for pixel-only creations, live art, big walls, logos, sculpture, built objects, wearable pieces - and hundreds of book covers.
Frequently Asked (real) Questions
I've had the tremendous pleasure of working with Sarah Coleman on a number of occasions over the last few years and she never ceases being impressive, and a whole lot of fun to work with. Not only is she super-talented and highly-skilled, but it seems that her diversity of projects knows absolutely no bounds—even having known her for a good few years now, there is always more to discover with her various undertakings. Sarah could be summed up easily as either incredible or amazing; both would apply to her.
~ Tony Harmer, The Design Ninja / Adobe
I've spent a lifetime immersed in words, with hundreds of book projects to my name. I spend my days illustrating, blogging, reading, talking in schools and colleges, and in an ongoing series of extra-curricular ventures with my partner Leigh including, over the years, a chocolate enterprise, pop-up restaurant, vinyl accessories company, gallery, record label and wedding stationery company - and two busy little shops.
When I'm not doing all that, you can find me throwing iron around in the gym, greedily taking in ghost stories or looking after our fleet of unusual Japanese cars (look for @inkymolesmotors on Instagram).
And following a not-so-secret past in pirate radio, I love doing radio!
Working with Sarah has been the favourite professional collaboration of my career. She is the best kind of professional—talented, diligent, and always cheery. Sarah has illustrated twenty-six of my stories, and for each of them—each of them!—she’s managed to craft an illustration that makes my story look even better than it did at the start.
I love working with Sarah because her work does what every writer hopes an illustrator’s work will do—it lifts my work. Every time.
~ Josh Allen, Author
Working with Sarah is always a pleasure. An immensely creative artist, she consistently reaches for new heights and is continually innovating and expanding her visual vocabulary, which brings new energy and knowledge to each project. Looking forward to our next collaboration.
- Laura Williams, Art Director,
Algonquin Young Readers