About Calvin Innes


Hi, I'm Calvin Innes.
I'm an illustrator, designer, cartoonist, artist, author and publisher with more than a decade of experience in the design and publishing industry, primarily creating illustrations for children. I'm a published children's author/illustrator, with a number of books available worldwide. I've been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember, and now split my time between my illustration work and running the publishing company I founded, My Little Big Town. I'm also the head of My little Big Town's two imprints (Last Door On the Left Publishing and Room 101 Publishing).
I'm always looking for new, interesting projects to work on, so drop me an e-mail or give me a call with details on your project and I'll get right back to you with a quote.
Over the years I've created illustrations and animations for clients across the world. I've created thousands of illustrations for books and magazines as well as for merchandise, advertising and everything else in between. My work can be found in the UK, USA and most of Europe as well as further afield in Japan, Australia, India, South America (pretty much everywhere else too). I've worked on a huge range of projects over the years ranging from character & mascot design for business' and sports teams, to children's book illustrations (both fiction and non-fiction titles), commercial advertising illustrations, website designs & web graphics, plus animations (both traditional stop-motion and cell based, as well as Flash) for use on the web and Television. I regularly work with a whole host of authors, creating illustrations for their books as well as illustrating my own short stories and books. I also write and illustrate comic books and graphic novels, for my own publishing companies as well as many others. Click here to view some of my past projects in more detail.
In the last few years I have regularly performed combined book reading events and art lessons at schools around the UK for children aged anywhere between 4 and 14. My lessons are designed to get children engaging with art and enjoying the creativity involved in drawing... often by teaching them to draw monsters, superheroes or something related to their current studies in school. I teach them that anyone can draw... it may not be on the same level as somebody else, it may be a different style, but it's all about having fun and not over-thinking the process. My lessons are always entertaining, whether I'm working with small groups of 10-15 pupils, or much larger groups of 3-400 pupils, they're a great way to get children excited about art and English.
I have worked with thousands of individuals and companies, far too many to mention. A few of my more notable clients include The Brownies, R.S.P.B, London Zoo, The UK Girl Guides, Rainbow Guides, Cadbury's, Nestle, The Sea Life Centre, Bakkavor, The Smurfs Movie, Endsleigh Insurance, Monkey Kingdom, Sony, Scholastic, Treehouse Dreams, Grain Magazine, Twisted Winds Ltd, StarShine, The Jam Cats, National Trust For Scotland, English National Heritage, plus many many more business' and individuals. Click Here to view some of my past clients in more detail.

I am the author of a number of children's books including: The Monster Book Of.. series of educational books, The Tiny Twisted Tales series of spooky and macabre children's books (including Pale Henry, Stuart The Bug Eating Man, Jenny & Little Frankie Hoblin), How To Draw Monsters with Calvin Innes - a step by step drawing guide, the Commander Recyclone & the Eco Rangers series of books, to name just a few. ....and the illustrator of even more including: The Gorgeous George series by Stuart Reid, including Gorgeous George & The Giant Geriatric Generator and Gorgeous George & The ZigZag Zit-Faced Zombies, Anisha's Adventures in Bangladesh by Moinul Islam, Pirates Don't Play Cricket by Iain O'Brien & Rowan Gibson, Where's the Scone by Beth Dexter-Smith, plus many many more... I studied TV & Film design at University, where I developed my storyboarding and drafting skills before 'going freelance', initially working for several large firms story-boarding TV commercials for UK television. I was lucky enough to get he chance to work with some top UK brands, designing merchandise and mascots/logos (many of which I still work with today). After a while I decided to focus on what I really wanted to do... drawing and writing comics and children's books. I founded my publishing company in 2011 and we now work with numerous authors and artists from all corners of the world. I live and work in Yorkshire in the UK, with my wife and three cats.
I've been lucky enough to be featured in loads of newspapers, magazines and even on TV shows (like ITVs Daybreak), but prefer to spend my time huddled away in my studio creating all sorts of weird and wonderful illustrations... if you'd like a quote on your particular project please feel free to drop me a line.