My CREATIVE STORY

Artist – writer – maker

How this all started

I’ve always drawn and I’ve always written, but for a long time those two things lived in separate boxes. Then one day a small, prickly, extremely badly-behaved hedgehog turned up in my imagination, refused to leave, and I realised the only way to get rid of him was to put him in a book.

So I did. I wrote it, I illustrated it, and then I discovered the bit nobody warns you about, that finishing the book is only half the battle. Getting it into the world is a whole other job, and one that indie authors have to build from scratch, usually at the kitchen table, usually with tea going cold beside them.

I did it anyway. Snoop Hog’s Sticky School Run, with Extra Everything! is now out in the world, stocked in places I genuinely never expected to see my own name, and I’m still slightly astonished about it.

What I actually make

I write and illustrate original watercolour picture books, led by Snoop and his ever-uncooperative prickles. Every illustration is hand-painted. Every word is mine. There’s no team behind this, just me, a paintbrush, and a hedgehog with big main-character energy and questionable time management.

Alongside the books, I create original artwork and digital print files, sold with a full commercial licence included, so other creatives, makers, and small businesses can use them to build their own products without any of the usual licensing headaches. If you’ve ever wanted to put a proper, hand-painted illustration on a mug, a card, a print, or something entirely of your own invention, that’s exactly what those files are for. I’d rather my artwork went out into the world and did some work than sat quietly in a folder on my laptop.

I also make products that move. Not literally, obviously, but close enough. I design augmented reality greeting cards and prints, the sort of thing that looks like an ordinary piece of paper until you point your phone at it and it springs to life. Think the Daily Prophet from Harry Potter, that’s the closest comparison, and it’s a genuinely delightful thing to watch a child’s face when a flat card suddenly starts moving in their hands. It’s the same technology, and I’ve had enormous fun putting it to work.

What I believe

Children’s books exist to entertain children. Full stop.

I’m not interested in hidden messages, quiet moralising, or stories that are really for the grown-up reading them. I’m interested in a child asking for the same book again, and again, and again, until the spine cracks and the corners go soft. That’s the goal. That’s always been the goal.

I also believe anyone with a story worth telling deserves the tools to tell it, which is why I work with new and young authors too, helping them take a first draft all the way through to a real, finished, published book. The publishing industry has spent decades making writers feel not good enough, not qualified enough, not connected enough. I’d rather do the opposite.

The other side of things

Alongside the books, I work with charities, animal sanctuaries, gift shops, and hospitals, offering wholesale packages designed to help them raise between 45% and 55% profit on every book sold. It’s a genuinely enjoyable way for organisations to boost their fundraising, and it means more children end up with a story in their hands. Everyone wins, really.

And finally

If you’ve read this far, thank you. If you’ve bought a book, read one to a child, or simply told someone else about a small hedgehog who can’t get to school on time, thank you even more. Word of mouth is still the most powerful thing in publishing, and I’m endlessly grateful for every single person who’s passed Snoop along.

Now go and read something. Ideally with a small person beside you, and ideally something with a hedgehog in it.

Sara x