The Art of Illustration in Education

You’d be right to associate The Bright Agency with picture books. We work with top authors and illustrators on a global scale, working with the best publishing houses in children’s books, both UK and beyond.

But we don’t stop there.

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Artwork by Richard Smythe

Three years ago, Bright Agent Lucie Luddington made it her mission to change the face of educational illustration. There was a huge gap in the market as far as text book illustration was concerned, and Lucie saw a chance for artists to work in this sector, not only allowing them a consistent income, but also improving school books for children world-wide — because why shouldn’t children’s learning materials be as visually pleasing as picture books and comics and all the things they are naturally drawn to?

Here Lucie talks about how it all began… LM

Artwork by Maddie Frost

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“Bright Educational started as a small entity within The Bright Group with several amazing artists on its books, willing to take a punt on the educational market. These artists wanted to show the educational world that educational artwork can be both inspiring and informative. Not only that but they welcomed the consistent, steady income it provided.”

Examples of illustration for education: David Litchfield’s first ever project piece with Bright for an educational project; illustrations by Zoe Persico and Maddie Frost.

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“One of the biggest challenges was finding enough artists to take on the work. The word had spread in terms of educational publishers hearing about me, and projects were coming in thick and fast — but we were yet to convince artists that educational projects could provide a stable career in illustration, which was both credible and fun”

More illustration styles: Chris Chatterton and Maddie Frost.

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“With artists such as David Litchfield, Gareth Conway, Zoe Persico, Tom Heard, Chris Chatterton and Maddie Frost flying the flag, educational illustration was becoming more credible. More and more artists were seeing the positives in working within the educational industry and learning that whilst doing this, they could be working towards a career in picture books, if that was their main goal. I was able to send out a wide range of art-work and showcase the talents of our growing roster of illustrators. With this came a greater range of project requests, and from this our reputation grew further.”

Artwork by Tom Heard and Gareth Conway.

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Having seen so many Bright artists go from strength to strength because of their beginnings with Bright Educational or TEAM EDU — or TEDU as we like to call it, I am delighted to say we are now renowned across the globe for our eclectic range of illustration and dedicated artists.

Illustration by Zoe Persico

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SO… If — as an artist you are not sure whether Bright Educational is the right path for you, have a re-think, it has led to great things for many!” — Lucie Luddington

Illustration by Maddie Frost

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If you’re an illustrator and you’d like to work with us, we’d love to hear from you! You can submit your work here.

And if you’d like to contact the Educational team directly, you can do so here.

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Lastly, we just couldn’t resist including this short film made by CBeebies. It really encapsulates our core values and we couldn’t say it better ourselves.

When it comes to difference, children see things differently.

Retweet if you wish more adults were like this. #CBeebies pic.twitter.com/yVDo8SWWVN

— CBeebies Grown-Ups (@CBeebiesHQ) June 17, 2017

When it comes to difference, children see things differently.

Retweet if you wish more adults were like this. #CBeebies pic.twitter.com/yVDo8SWWVN

— CBeebies Grown-Ups (@CBeebiesHQ) June 17, 2017