Anne-Marie Perks

Before joining Buckinghamshire New University in 2009, I worked as a freelance illustrator and designer specialising in illustration for publishing, design studios and concept development. My freelance business is still active doing a variety of work for older fiction, non-fiction, book cover and graphic novels as well as personal work in animation, writing and illustrating own stories and gallery paintings. Teaching animation, illustration and film pre-production in Further Eduction started off my teaching career in 2002.

I studied for my MA in Children’s Illustration, Illustration and Animation at North Wales School of Art and Design. My specialist area of interest is in exploring experimental forms of visual narratives in sequential storytelling in different mediums; graphic novels, narrative games and 2D and stop motion animation, specifically puppet and set creation. Research into the intersection of myth, fairy tales and magical realism and how these areas influence contemporary visual storytelling underpins my personal work in the narrative mediums previously outlined.

My specialist knowledge has led me to work with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, an international organisation, developing professional level workshops and retreats for evolving and established illustrators and writers alongside managing exhibitions of artists’ works both touring and in various venues in London.

I am very proud of the work I’ve done with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the collaborative events I helped organise with the Association of Illustrators and the House of Illustration in London. I am also very proud of the two wordless books I co-authored and published with Books Beyond Words, a specialist publisher for reluctant readers and readers of all ages with learning disabilities.

• Associate Lecturer