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Illustrator Spotlight – Jessie Tucker

Sound Waves Literacy 5/5/23

Jessie Tucker has been drawing pictures ever since she could hold a pencil. With an illusive artistic style and lyrical illustrations, Jessie’s work on the Sound Waves Decodable Readers brings incredible warmth and atmosphere to the collection.

Despite spending the majority of her adult life in the hustle and bustle of Naarm (Melbourne), Jessie recently relocated to the picturesque Boon Wurrung land (Mornington Peninsula) to ‘a little suburb between the bush and the sea.’

Jessie’s artistry has always been a lifelong calling. ‘I have always tried to find work in roles that require me to draw,’ he says. ‘These have included set and costume design, fashion and textile design, visual communication and mural painting’.

It wasn’t until Jessie joined creative agency, The Illustration Room, that her dream came into fruition. ‘I always had an unrealised dream of illustrating children’s books and when I joined The Illustration Room in 2020, it came true! I responded to a call-out they shared on Instagram looking for children’s book illustrators.’

Jessie’s goal is to create a doorway into another world through her art. ‘In my work as an illustrator, my aim is to make lyrical, evocative, sensitive, beautiful and sometimes humorous illustrations. I can’t say they achieve all those things, but that’s what I am going for.’ Jessie’s playful illustrations enrich many Sound Waves Decodable Readers, including her favourites, Up at Dawn and The Fangs.

‘Being required to draw a sunrise on every page was really a dream job,’ she muses. ‘I also had so much fun portraying snakes with rockstar personalities for The Fangs. I don’t know if you can tell, but David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust alter ego provided a lot of the style inspiration for their outfits.’

Jessie says she truly felt like she created an illustrative world for Sound Wave Decodable Reader, Farmer Mark. ‘The authors left me room to design the layout of the farm, the countryside, the building interiors and exteriors and the family dynamics. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to contribute so much to the story behind the words.’

See more of Jessie’s work on her website or Instagram.

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