About Anna Simmons: Expert in Vintage Textures and Unique Digital Collage
In today's digital age, I believe our eyes crave the charm of wobbly edges, loopy letters, and textures that evoke a tactile sensation.
Explore my work further and discover how we can bring your vision to life, by reading more about my journey below!
Digital Collage
As an expert in vintage textures and unique digital collage, my illustrations are crafted by layering elements of drawing, print, found forms, and letters.
I love to combine flat, modular components with striking lines and textures to build pictographic scenes.
I have a vast mental archive of old-fashioned references and historical styles, which I believe we all share to some extent. Within each of our imaginations lies a shared visual vocabulary, formed from past influences and motifs that surround us daily.
My work resonates by weaving together these collective cultural cues, sparking emotion and nostalgia.
I grew up in North Wales, attending school and completing my Art Foundation in Wrexham.
I left to attend art college in Bristol and then London, where I made my professional start in illustration.
I’m now back home, living in the mountains of North Wales.
Work in progress detail: Illustrated Map of Wrexham. A self-initiated project.
Discover more of my digital collages!
Vintage Textures
As an expert in vintage textures, I'm a collector of old annuals, vintage packaging, and wallpaper fragments—salvaging any and every kind of paper ephemera.
I find joy in inky edges, grainy texture, and the tiny flecks transferred by print. I love the dry drag of a brush, loaded with not-quite-enough paint.
The appearance of analogue printing methods and the visual hallmarks of older technologies remind us of the process of making.
J’ adore! Detail from an illustration exploring the textile history of France. Costume and Fashion History has been one of my favourite areas to research.
Using my scanner like a microscope, I like to get closer than the eye can see… to marks, materials and the printed remnants that I collect.
To me, the beauty in these mechanical flaws and hand-drawn wobbles is that they are reminders of a human touch. Textures are tactile; they communicate and engage our senses.
Get a feel for texture—take a look at examples from my portfolio!
Hand Lettering
My work has always involved the interplay of letters and images. In my college sketchbooks, drawing and collage coexisted with streams of writing.
Mapmaking later pushed me from handwriting to hand lettering. And map research opened my eyes to a world of diverse typographic styles.
I discovered how the personality and history of places shine through their letterforms in signage, architecture and material culture.
By incorporating these diverse influences into my hand lettering, my work can transport audiences to different cultures, times and places.
After college, I got my start as an assistant at a London studio specialising in illustrated maps. Here I brushed up on my technical skills and learnt the professional side of illustration. I realised I loved mapmaking, sent my work out to magazines and started taking commissions.
I’m proud to have been born in Liverpool. Confession: we actually left when I was still a baby. BUT still, it keeps a special place in my heart and I pop there often.
Montage of hand lettering from a project I loved making, all about Liverpool History.
Early in my career I heard the saying:
Good Typography is Invisible
…and took it as permission to make my hand lettering the opposite; seen and heard!
My lettering techniques echo my approaches with texture. I sometimes fashion found printed shapes into letterforms, playing with scale to reveal invisible edges and unique flaws. I love to create big letters with the proportions of small print.
I also draw inspiration from printed words from the past . From a few found letters I craft entire alphabets, following my own rules and amplifying peculiarities.
Characters have character!
Lettering is so expressive, each style acts like a distinct voice in dialogue. Throughout my illustrations, hand lettering guides and communicates but also forms an emotional connection, ensuring the audience not only reads, but also feels, the message.
Discover the expressive charm of hand lettering! Explore examples from my portfolio:
My Credentials
Education
Royal College of Art, London
MA Communication Art and Design 2004 - 2006
University of the West of England, Bristol
BA Hons Illustration 1998-2001
Select Client List
Royal Museums Greenwich, National Geographic Traveller, Quarto Books, Reader’s Digest, The Museums Association, Maison Marcy, John Brown Media, Ink Global, Norwegian Cruise Line
Memberships
A member of the Association of Illustrators
Student of The Good Ship Illustration (and proud Good Ship Badge owner)
Collaborate with me
My illustrations fuse vintage textures, vibrant colours, and eclectic hand lettering to inspire and emotionally connect. Get in touch to bring your concepts to life with a unique, handmade feel.