Francis Martin
Illustrator: mentor in 2025
Francis Martin worked in adult mental health for over two decades before a ‘now or never’ moment led him to pursue an interest in children’s literature. He went back to school and completed an MA in Children’s Book Illustration – this led to gaining a place on the Picture Hooks mentoring programme as a mentee, which led to several books, including the award-winning Gina Kaminski series. He has also claimed to have invented grunge rock during a brief sojourn in the music business.
“Every time I worked with Lauren I came a way feeling energised and full of ideas. This worried me as I was meant to be the mentor not the mentee. Lauren had just graduated from Cambridge School of Art Children’s Book Illustration MA when we met but she still had her foot on the creative accelerator. Our first face-to-face meeting was at the Dick Bruna exhibition at Leeds Museum, We talked non-stop and solidly about Children’s literature and bringing our own life experiences into our work. She already had some lovely soulful pieces such as Walter the Dragon based on her dog but Lauren wanted to try something more comedic and character based. She had two little vampiric imps, Viv and Vinnie in her sketchbook and a few bits of text. The artwork had something of a vintage look about it but it was fresh and alive. This was no pastiche. I just listened and suggested stuff especially around text so that it would complement Lauren’s fluid and free flowing approach. Lauren is such an adventurous illustrator and I was really privileged to see her work as it evolved.”
