Interview with Liv Bargman

We sat down with the wonderfully talented Liv Bargman, represented by Georgia Tournay-Godfrey, to talk fish and chips under flaps, homemade wrapping paper and how the hills of Shropshire quietly find their way into her work, all in celebration of her gorgeous new picture book, Arthur Frog and the Great Store Adventure publishing with DK, 5th November 2026.

Your style is shaped by a really distinctive mix of paints, pens, digital colour and crayons. How does this shape the look and feel of your work?

With the mix media- it keeps it exciting for me! As depending on the temp of the room, paints will behave differently- brush marks can be drier and paint thicker. A felt tip pen toward the end of its life starts to go fluffy, compared to a box fresh felt- obviously that gives varying qualities of line. I do the traditional material first, scan it all in then tweak it digitally- perhaps tightening up parts or letting them be all imperfect in a pleasing to-me way.

You’re based deep in the South Shropshire hills, does your landscape and surroundings find its way into your work at all?

I’ve been asked this recently and I gave an ‘I’m not sure’ answer. But I think actually, yes. I’m obsessed with hill formations/ geology, rocks of this locality, obviously the insects and plants. I just recently painted a window for Poetry Pharmacy (a bookshop) in Bishops Castle , with the theme of walking in spring and summer to coincide with the local walking festival. So those visuals, the shapes of the lands and plants came so easily to me. I can see it all from my window! Also I added drovers to the design who were men that ‘drove’ (walked with) herds of animals from Wales to markets to sell in London. Bishops Castle town was a stop-off point. There are many pubs here for that historical reason! It’s a lively creative place nestled in the hills- that light bounces off in interesting ways, off old buildings, woods, and craggy rocks. I think it attracts as many artists and musicians as it does for these reasons.

Arthur Frog and the Great Store Adventure is such a beautiful book. What was your favourite spread to illustrate and why?

I think it’s the cafe one- it’s a respite spread from the rest of the book, as they are having a sit down around the table face to face enjoying each other’s company. I really liked researching what the stained glass window designs were like and adding those. Tiny historical details are so nice to bring in. The colours in this spread are my favourite too, they are fresh and light reflecting what time of year the spread nods to (the book goes through the seasons of the year from start to finish/ Jan to December). This spread represents high summer I seem to recall, so I added nice blousy flowers on the tables. I also really like drawing food- in this spread there are fish n chips hidden under the flap!

The story is all about finding the perfect gift for someone special. Did illustrating that theme bring anything personal out of you creatively?

I absolutely love gift wrapping presents for family and friends. I make my own wrapping paper - hand drawing the patterns and doing some wiggly typography for the label and cards. At the moment I am using a lot of posca pens and brown paper. I wonder what color scheme I’ll decide to do next season :)). Liberty purple..? The relationship between the cat and Arthur the frog is very sweet. Friendship is a great connection for us humans and for kids to talk about, experience, read about and learn about . I love how author Katie Blackburn (Leah Thaxton) has captured that kindness and thoughtfulness , and has the nice reveal at the end of the book.

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Take a look at Liv’s full portfolio here.

Pre Order your copy of Arthur Frog and the Great Store Adventure here.

To work with Liv, get in touch with her agent Georgia Tournay-Godfrey here.