portfolio

I’m working on a little collection of scenes from films to help me get to grips with creating different moods, working with lighting, and making realistic textures in Photoshop. I’m doing about one every week or two so check back for updates!

An absolutely beautiful baby had her portrait illustrated in time for her naming day earlier this year. Her parents wanted some special song lyrics, and the baby’s name and birth date to be included along with some birds, animals and wildflowers. So much love was poured into this drawing from all sides. I hope little Ellie loves to look at herself in this magical place as she grows up. I used the photo that the parents gave me and made the piece completely in Illustrator – everything drawn by hand, some parts coloured by hand too, some parts coloured digitally, then the final piece collaged digitally. I got it printed with The Copper House printers – archival pigment ink on cotton rag paper, and framed by Rocker Lane Workshop with reclaimed maple wood.  

Delighted that the follow on to Naturama, My Naturama Nature Journal, will be out March 2017, published by Gill Books. It’s a beautiful companion to Naturama, and is designed to bring outside with you so that you can stop and draw a picture of your favourite tree and list out the birds you’ve seen on your nature walk. It also has lots of fun projects to do throughout the seasons outdoors.

I was asked to draw a nature in the city themed illustration for Dublin City Council, to be installed on hoarding around the site of a new park at Benson Street in Dublin’s Docklands. Talk about a dream commission! It went up in February 2017 and is set to be in place for a couple of years. It stretches 55 metres long (180 ft) so you have to go there in person to get the full experience. I made a little animation of the drawing too, it moves through the four seasons and is packed full of native flora and fauna, and features some local landmarks too.

This job started off as a wedding invite for nature lovers and then evolved into a cool wildlife art installation at the wedding itself! The wedding invite was designed to include the favourite animals of the bride and groom (including their cat!) and to also reference the autumn season and the wedding venue – Virginia Park Lodge in Cavan. Then we got cut outs of the animals printed and cut, then placed around the venue on the day. So much fun! Thanks to Ivana Patarcic for the photos. You can see more of the wedding photos on One Fab Day where it was a featured wedding!    

Number one bestseller – Irish wildlife book, written by Michael Fewer and Illustrated by Melissa Doran, featuring 84 colour nature drawings. Published by Gill Books. For more about Naturama, please click here.

I designed a double sided pull-out A2 Naturama themed activity poster for the RTÉ Guide (week starting 20 June 2016) combining drawings from Naturama and new activity exercises. The poster features two seasons on each side with different flora and fauna to watch out for depending on the time of the year.  

I made illustrated portraits of Michael Fewer and I in collaboration with the photographer Myles Shelly for the Naturama publicity campaign for Gill Books. I combined the photos with an illustrated nature backdrop.  

Here’s a short video of my #100daysofbicycles project- where I drew a bicyle every day for 100 days. Loads more info on it here.  I’ve been sharing videos of me drawing, blogs about my process and finished work all over social media and delighted with all the feedback and encouragement. Please watch and see if you can spot your bike! For more info on this project click here. 

Poster for the 2015 Marriage Equality Referendum. Damn Fine Print in Block T had a shout out for yes/heart posters and this was mine. They were screen printed in red and/or neon pink and sold them in Block T in Smithfield in Dublin. I got more made to sell in my shop as everyone was so excited about the Yes vote result :)

Commission for Image Interiors and Living magazine, January/February 2015 issue. The girl is wearing really cute clothes and I also want to live in her little house! I love the magazine and the article itself (by Ella Griffin) is really sweet and funny. January/February 2015 issue in the shops now :) Happy new year everyone!  

Delighted to have an illustration in the Winter 2014 issue of the Irish Wildlife Trust magazine. This will be a pull out poster in the Kids section (Badger Club) of the magazine. I had a Spring poster earlier on in the year. Can’t wait to see it in print!

Limited edition (run of 40) archival print on cotton rag fine art paper. This is inspired by a bottomless lake near Gowel, behind a famous fairy hill, ‘Sheemore’, beside me in Leitrim, Ireland, where I grew up. Now available for purchase in my etsy shop.

Submission for my editorial illustration group (now finished) August 2014. This was to go with an article about gardening in the city. I drew my favourite flowers from my mother’s garden, dahlias and nasturtiums.

Dublin Map for my friends in the Fumbally Exchange: ditch work and hit the seaside…that’s me with my bike wearing my favourite dress! Read more…

Limited Edition (20) print for Arthur Guinness Fund 2012 Awardees, presented in June 2014 at the end of their mentorship program. I was delighted to be asked by Guinness to make 20 limited edition prints for their Arthur Guinness Fund Graduates (2012). The AGF awardees  are social entrepreneurs and got funding and mentorship over the past two years. My print was going to be part of their goodbye gift. I love affirmations and like having positive words and images around me when I’m working. So I started with an adaptation of a zen quote, “Before Enlightenment chop wood carry water, after Enlightenment, chop wood carry water”. I wanted it to be a reminder to always keep going, keep working through the everyday issues, but don’t forget your big dream that made you set up your business in the first place. Read more in the blog about the process…

Fun poster for the Irish Wildlife Trust Badger Club kids magazine. Actually, this was the drawing that led me to get the job illustrating Naturama! The publishers spotted it on Facebook and told my friend (who works with them) that they wanted to meet me. And the rest is history… I’ve now made it available for purchase on my etsy site.

“No Guts No Glory”, A2 screenprint, limited run of 5.