Artist of the Month - Annie West

Annie West was born in Glasgow in 1961. She graduated from Dun Laoghaire College of Art & Design in 1979 with a Diploma in Design for Communications, and as a recipient of the Alfred Beit, Nora McGuinness and NCEA Patent Practicioners Awards she embarked on her career as a Design Assistant in RTÉ (Irish National Television) where she worked on a variety of children's programs, drama series and talk shows. This was followed by a decade working in feature films in Ireland, Britain and America, as well as working on the development of artwork for music CDs for many bands including among others, The Waterboys, Sharon Shannon and Matt Molloy.

During this time Annie has also secured commissions for book illustrations from publishers such as Folens, Mentor Books and Coiscéim, which formed the foundation of her interest in children's literature.

Annie has over a dozen children's books published both here (in Ireland), and in the UK and America. She has recently completed work on a series of illustrations for Children's BBC and has a number of books in development.

She specializes in highly detailed line and ink drawings with the emphasis on detail. She is particular and punctual, and can work to extremely tight deadlines. Most of her work is commissioned and operated by email, helping her to speed up the process of finished artwork.

Annie exhibits every year in Dublin and Sligo. She illustrates figures from history, literature and science with mischief in mind. She also works to commission and originals can be found in the collections of film stars, children, firefighters and rugby internationals.

In her spare time Annie coaches Under 8`s Rugby.

Annie is a member of the Illustrator`s Guild of Ireland, The Association of Illustrators (UK) and the American Society of Illustrators.