What’s up?
The stairs walked down into rushing water…
A few summer updates, plus a little about my background.
Hope you’re having a good summer!
Summer updates
• Sales are up on my Creative Market shop - the Halloween set is doing especially well. It seems that organised creatives plan early as sales go up in the warmer months. It really is a great set, I’ve purposely made it super simple to use: each illustration can be dropped seamlessly into any design prog, including Adobe Express for some quick-smart marketing or merchandising.
• I’m currently working with a fiction author on merch and sub-branding to increase visibility around their new book. Can’t share any details as yet but the book launches in early 2026 and comes from one of the big publishing houses.
My background & approach to illustration and design
I can share however that for the author’s project mentioned above, I’m using my graphic design expertise as well as my illustration skills… meaning lots of creative consultation supported by the tech bank in my head.
I’ve worked in so many areas of design: the first several years of my career I freelanced in advertising and design companies e.g. Habitat, the Partners, Interbrand, TBWA, M&S, Fitch among many others. Then I worked in-house at Kew Gardens for a few years, where amongst the regular fare, I worked on several books with their publishing team. This paved the way for me to move into museums/galleries as an independent designer where along with digital/print, I worked in 2D exhibition design for many institutions including Natural History Museum, Farrer & Co, Agatha Christie Archive Trust, Imperial War Museum, Horniman Museum.
I love exhibition design not only because the content is so absorbing but making work in big spaces is a thrill. It also draws on my story-telling skills which, when manifested in a physical space, increases engagement/value both for the visitor and the venue.
More recently I’ve been working as a consultant with sound and video artist Donald Harding on his solo shows. We’ve had many conversations about how to make the work and the space interact so they become a whole, as well focusing on the more detailed practicalities. As an artist/designer myself, I understand the nuances of how a work can ‘live’ in a space and the power that has. This, married with my 20 years of museum know-how, is a potent mix and can really elevate an artist’s vision.
In my spare time, I’m a big reader (novels, short stories, poetry) and I regularly visit museums & galleries and this hasn’t changed since I was a kid. It goes without saying that cultural and educational content are a great fit. These days I’m bringing my illustration front and centre, without foregoing the graphic/exhibition design consultancy for now. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss either.
‘Maquette’ draft for stairs loop
I’ve also done art direction, systems management & project trafficking: most recently in a year-long interim role from 2023–2024 at the London Transport Museum. The remit was very wide: across marketing, guidebooks, retail packaging, exhibition design and education materials in both print & digital… I even managed to squeeze in some illustration and design work of my own. Oh, and I should mention that I also steered the team through applying a new brand! I loved it - particularly working with freelance designers (I had a team of around five) but am always drawn back by the strong desire to both make work for myself and my clients, and to keep growing.
On that thought, the stairs loop above I made for my Substack page. I drew it in Illustrator first where I created a kind of ‘maquette’ loop then drew it again in Adobe Fresco using a trad painting approach to give it some life.
Enjoy the sun!
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Interested in commissioning or working with me? Get in touch via email at hello@tanyacornish.com
Follow me on Instagram for illustration and design
(or my practice page on instagram.com/tanya_akiko_cornish/ where I post sketches, life drawings, paintings, that kind of thing.)