James Benn Illustration

I began my career as a freelance illustrator straight out of university in 2008, quickly finding my way into the pages of The Guardian, where I created weekly illustrations for their Sunday sports supplement. From there, my work grew organically, leading to collaborations with a wide range of editorial and advertising clients. I proudly illustrated regularly for The Independent and Mother & Baby magazine for quite some time. Along the way, my illustrations have been exhibited at the London Transport Museum, and I’ve worked both with representation and independently, where I’m currently based.

My practice originally grew out of vector-based digital illustration, I have dabbled in character based work and conceptual illustration but over time it’s shifted towards a more hands-on approach and addresses people, lifestyle and occasionally the surreal. I now work primarily with ink, watercolour and pencil, developing a more tactile, expressive visual language; one that feels distinctive, imperfect, and deeply satisfying to create.