The Beauty of Illustration in the Eye of Clair Rossiter

Clair Rossiter is a British-based freelance illustrator who draws colourful illustrations for children’s books, jigsaw puzzles, greeting cards, and even dining halls at The University of Oregon.

By Kamila Sukhanova

Have you ever wondered if paintings come alive the same way as in “Harry Potter”? You would think I’m crazy for believing in such a thing, but I actually do. To me, every illustration has its own live world in it, especially if Clair Rossiter illustrated it. 

Her work delivers the ambience of portrayed places with vibrant and perfectly combined colours that brighten your eyes in a second. The small hidden details in the illustrations pique your curiosity, making you find each of them as Clair, in a way, hid them like Easter eggs. 

“To be an illustrator, you must love drawing in whatever drawing means to you. You might do something not traditional for this world. Even just making marks on the page, but please fully enjoy doing so.”

Eight thousand and fifty-six kilometres. This is the distance between London and Eugene, the city in the U.S. state of Oregon. The distance through which Clair was working on a massive 53 feet long illustration for the new dining hall at The University of Oregon.

Who would think one map illustration would appear as an invisible thread connecting two completely different continents? Definitely not Clair. The artist was surprised when the interior designer hired by the University of Oregon emailed her. 

Apparently, the university was redesigning its entire cafeteria. After carefully browsing Etsy, they finally found the right style for the wall art, which happened to be Clair’s work. But there was only one ‘but’.

“When they told me how big it was going to be. I was quite daunted because I had never worked at such a scale. It was the only project that I had ever had when I actually thought: ‘I might not be able to do this’…, said Clair

The illustrator had no team or anyone to help her with the project. So It was only her and the requested 53 feet, 4 inches long and 4 feet inches wide illustration to make. 

To create any commissioned work, you need a structured plan, a strong vision and, what’s important, skills to draw. Clair had everything ready for the big project except a fast-running computer and solid knowledge of Adobe Illustrator. 

The artist always got her work done in Photoshop for her usual illustrations. However, large-scale projects require the use of Adobe Illustrator, which Clair had to learn about briefly. That is when things got much more complicated, not to mention the time difference between U.K. and U.S.

Even though the illustrator was doing her best to figure out all the technical parts, it didn’t matter as the computer wasn’t still working well with large files. Clair would scan all her drawings and then try to layer them in Photoshop. However, the program would start lagging every half an hour and then crash in the end. Rossiter told me, “It was the only time when I had a deadline, and I realised it was going to be absolutely impossible to make it on time.”

As much as she hated to break her number one rule about missing the deadline, Clair has got another three weeks to finish the project. The constant fear that she wouldn’t make it was following the illustrator through the entire process. 

“I wanted to show the client that I was doing my best, meantime having my insides scrunched up. I thought, ‘He doesn’t know me. How is he going to trust me?’ Well, I was fortunate that he did”, said Rossiter

The freelancer put all her blood, sweat and tears into the project. The numerous troubles and obstacles she faced on her way were all worth it after seeing the final results with pure joy. Now students can admire the installed illustration in the food hall area of the University of Oregon. Sometimes the biggest challenges are the ones that level up you professionally and spiritually. 

Back to the time when Clair was little, somehow she knew while looking at the illustrations on the back of the cereal box that she would like to be the person who draws them. As she grew up, the desire didn’t disappear anywhere. Moreover, Clair admits, “It went to the point when I couldn’t imagine doing anything else, really. It has always been a fate”. 

Usually, parents have bits of doubts about their kids following art as a profession. Clair’s parents, on the contrary, gave nothing but full support to their daughter. 

Her foundation course the illustrator did at the London College of Communication. But, even before going there, Rossiter already fell in love with every course image and description that she could possibly find on the website.

“It was one of the gut things. I don’t have them as clear in my life, but it was there when I knew that I belonged here”, said Clair

As we know, expectations tend to be different from reality most of the time. Sadly, Clair wasn’t an exception. The illustrator found her time at the university very difficult.

There weren’t any problems with the student environment or anything close to that. It was more of the critiquing part that brought everything upside down. The illustrator told me, with her voice going a little bit quieter, “I had to grow up really quickly. So I would make things, and then the feedback from them would be so direct and harsh that I’d be crushed. I even remember crying a few times because of that”. 

Though everything didn’t go as Clair imagined, her time at LCC taught her the most important lessons – to be determined and never give up on your goals just because someone told you you are not good enough. Especially if you want “to be an illustrator, you need to love drawing in whatever drawing means to you. You might do something not traditional for this world. Even just making marks on the page, but please fully enjoy doing so”, said Rossiter.

Clair’s hard efforts to develop her work to another level paid off a bit later. The illustrator received her first properly paid commission during her third year at the university. The BBC History magazine was working on a food article about aphrodisiacs. So they were looking for someone to make illustrations of still-life arranged food in quite suggestive ways. 

As it was the first paid request, the artist was feeling excited and terrified at the same time. She couldn’t believe that a real person wanted to pay her to do the artwork for their publication. However, making a commissioned illustration is not the same as doing one for yourself.

When you work with an art director, one of the essential steps is to show them your drafts first, so you both would decide what works and what doesn’t for the project. At the same time, Clair used only ink to do all of her preliminary sketches. Not only did they not capture the final vision of the art, but they were also quite hard to understand for everyone except Rossiter herself.

Now she does pencil sketches and colours them digitally in order to produce a clear and understandable draft for her clients. Apart from that, there was another aspect that Clair hadn’t done before her first commission. The illustrator told me, barely holding her laugh, “I didn’t know how to invoice people at that stage. So I did all the work, sent it to the client and wondered, ‘Why they haven’t paid me yet? Then, the art director emailed me, saying that I needed to send him an invoice. I was so funny and naive to the business side of freelance”.

For some, doing freelance would sound very liberating. There is only you and no heads bossing around, which in a way, can be seen as the definition of freedom. But, most tend to forget what an actual responsibility you carry around freelancing. The financial side of it is something that you always keep in your head. As I mentioned, there is only one employee. Meaning there is only you in charge of getting enough work to pay your bills. 

Clair noticed the number of received projects had changed significantly since the pandemic. The illustrator promised to take as many requests as possible, including personal and commissioned ones. 

Now she has her schedule busy doing wedding stationeries, greeting cards, book covers and her favourite, maps. Yet, it is essential for Rossiter to keep everything in balance so that the burnout wouldn’t catch her. 

 “I think the hard bit of freelance is keeping up. On top of creating, you run a business, keep a record of finances, advertise your work, and answer emails, which doesn’t come all naturally. It takes a lot of time. You sacrifice time in order to do something you love”, said Clair

At the university, you get taught to meet deadlines, stay up late and produce high-quality products. But there is nothing about getting yourself overworked and losing all inspiration. Like many others, the illustrator had to teach herself how not to carry away. 

It is absolutely fine to rest, take a break, go for a walk and then produce excellent work. However, sometimes pressure from multiple deadlines causes panic attacks. At that moment, all you need is to stop and breathe. Learning that helped Clair a lot to see everything around her again.

Inspiration plays a significant role for anyone in creative industries. As part of freelance, you tend to spend a lot of time indoors, making you feel stale. When it comes to Rossiter, she finds inspiration for her illustrations in everything that she sees, listens and reads. 

From talking to other people or passing something beautiful, as an illustrator, she always collects everything in her head, even if it happens unconsciously. Clair told me, “You are kind of drawn to things that you visually like. Because you look at things, you love how they look, and then you draw them”. 

Finding their unique style is something that most illustrators hang on to. However, as Clair enjoyed working in different mediums by using ink, gouache and other sorts, she felt she couldn’t have only one style during her study years.

As the illustrator has begun to get more and more commissioned work, she realises that her style mainly consists of trusting her hands when she draws. From picking a pencil to sketching, it becomes the natural way of making art. All of this is what makes clients know what to expect.  

“I think when you get that awareness… the visual awareness, your ability to draw and your taste kind of come together, and then you’ve got a style. It takes quite a long time for your abilities to match what you like actually. You can’t get to the place you want to be in your head without doing all the drawing”, said Clair

Working freelance, especially in the art industry, makes you your own worst critic. If you look at your past works thinking how on earth you were commissioned to do that, then you are going in the right direction. From Clair’s point of view, it shows your growth, which is so much better rather than staying still.

Though being an illustrator can have its own ups and downs. It is important to have a reminder of why artists become ones. To remember the opportunity they have to gift the world an escape from reality within their drawings. Because without it, life would lose its colours, and everything would look like a black-and-white movie. 

Clair Rossiter is living proof of that. After 12 years, she still has passion in her eyes for doing the thing she loves the most, which can be felt through all of her work. The light and energy coming from her illustrations magically invite everyone who looks at them to become a part of the drawings.

Feature image courtesy of Clair Rossiter. To visit her website, click here.