Joanne Symonds Biography

Joanne Symonds

My first career was English teaching. Having gained an Hons degree at Glasgow University. I taught for about 12 years until circumstances took me to Brighton where I met illustrators and packagers and my illustrating career started there in 1987.

Since then I have worked on many projects – educational and fictional, the vast majority connected with children's literature. My favourite commission was "The Wind in the Willows" packaged by Templar and published by Parragon. In the 90's I illustrated several issues of Children's Classics magazine, published by Fabbri, covering stories such as "Jane Eyre", "A Christmas Carol", "The Silver Skates", "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" and more. I enjoy the variety of illustrating and its overlap with my previous line of work!

I'm based in Glasgow, Scotland, and most of my landscapes are of this lovely country. In the early 2000s I attended adult education classes at Glasgow School of Art and began painting in oils.