This artwork was created for Liz Longley’s new album, Funeral for my Past. Contrary to the title the album is actually quite a happy one, representing new beginnings so Liz wanted this sentiment reflected in the artwork.

With a rough idea in mind I worked with Liz to create a lush, brightly coloured explosion of nature around the title. The colour scheme was chosen to be happy and eye-catching but also a little more mature.

The original line-work was hand sketched and then digitally painted in Photoshop.

I was asked by Supply Design to work with them in creating a set of images for Moana Park Estate, and their new varietal range.

Moana Park wanted to tell the story of the land the winery is on and its namesake. Moana meaning ocean in Te Reo Māori.
The winery is now quite far from the ocean, due to the Napier earthquake but they wanted to tell the story of the various sea creatures that once would have been there including whale, seahorse and octopus with them coming to life in a fantastical way behind the iconic hill shape that boarders their winery.

Working with designer James Duthie, I hand drew many iterations to get to this final image, taking inspiration from traditional wood carving and inking.

Design and Art Direction : James Duthie
Design Agency : Supply Design
Client : Moana Park Estate

Working with Sara from Sartoria Creative is always a dream and this project for Broken Heart Gin was no exception.

I was asked to create a set of nine floral ingredients to be used as window decals and recurring imagery throughout Broken Hearts new Gin Garden tasting room in Queenstown, NZ.

Each botanical was hand drawn with pen and paper first, scanned and then worked on digitally in Photoshop. The illustrations needed enough detail to be interesting and beautiful when blown up to window size but they also needed to not get lost when printed on menus.

Art Direction : Sara Fraser
Client : Broken Heart Gin

I was asked by Adam at Blue Fridge Brewery to create a beer label for his new special release beer "Kelp Party" The brief was "imagine a world where underwater people drink kelp beers and have happy dance parties"

Greatest brief ever?

Using the label template as a guide I sketched in different compositions traditionally and once the client and I were happy with the direction, I digitally created the artwork using Photoshop.

This design was nominated top 10 in the 2021 NZ GABS Label Design Awards and came 5th! Check it out here along with all the other beautiful entries.

Packaging logistics and design help : Adam
Client : Blue Fridge Brewery

I was asked to design and illustrate a series of images to represent the three flavours of Elemental Distillers new, award winning aromatic cocktail bitters as well as an overall image depicting a table of elements with the flavours and visuals woven throughout it.

Each image is completed traditionally with ink pens.

Text on bottles designed by Connah Hazelwood https://www.behance.net/connahhazelwood

Bottle photography courtesy of Ben Leggett of Elemental Distillers
http://www.elementaldistillers.com/

This mural was part of the wider exhibition Te Taiao Nature at Te Papa Tongarewa.

The brief was to create a mural that brought to life the creatures that are on display as fossils in a fun, but scientific way.

This was a huge, amazing project, allowing me to work with scientists and experts from all different specialities to bring these treasures to life.

The mural is painted in Resene paints and detailed using Molotow paint markers.

Photography : Te Papa, Rachael Hockridge, Zoe Gillett and Rosie Kwan

Ecology + Co is a boutique distillery based in New Zealand that specialises in beautifully crafted alcohol free spirits.

Working with designer Janelle Herrick, I was asked to create two illustrations for their new range of alcohol free RTD’s.

They wanted a sophisticated traditional feeling illustration that would be different to other similar beverages on the market. The illustration needed to convey the flavour at a glance using the ingredients and colour palette.

With the list of essential ingredients in each flavour, I created a composition around a copper still, used for the distilling of spirits.

As the artwork would be printed directly on to cans many tests had to be completed to ensure no detail would be lost. Sections of art were detailed up, printed and then upsized over and over again until we were happy with how it looked from a distance on a shelf amongst other beverages.

I learnt so much from this project and loved the problem solving aspect of it.

“That Zoe is a talented illustrator is plainly obvious. Her work is lyrical, detailed and well, beautifully crafted. What you may not know yet, is that she also has been blessed with the sort of flexible thinking and can-do attitude required to join you on your madcap journey in really pushing the limits of what could be possible. In our case, working through line weight trials, stippling trials and halftone shading options to help us create ‘the vision’ within a challenging print medium. Zoe worked as part of a wider production team to achieve a truly unique and bespoke result, very fitting for a truly unique range of prepared drinks in a can.”

– Janelle Herrick

Design and Art Direction : Janelle Herrick
Client : Ecology + Co
Agency : Watermark Creative

I was asked by Te Papa Tongarewa ( The Museum of New Zealand) to complete an entire room mural for Storyplace, a fun play space for children under 5.

Working with the team at Te Papa I designed a mural that would start at one end of the room in a deep sea theme and morph into different landscapes as you go around the room, creating different imaginary play spaces throughout.

Starting with a 2D concept I designed a deep sea seating area that lead to a coral reef, sandy coastal beach, native forest, NZ farmland, mountain scapes and finally wetlands.
I kept a similar colour palette throughout to bring the space together and painted using Resene colours and detailed with Molotow paint pens.

The lighting in this room is set up for making this a fun space for kids. Unfortunately this doesn’t make it the best set up for taking photos of your walls.

My hairs a state!

TBWA Dublin asked me to create a piece for a book they were creating, collaborating with other artists to depict a familiar quote from 2020 and our “new normal”
My piece brings to life the quote “No Camera Today, My Hairs a State” referring to a lot of peoples new routine of working from home and using video chat to communicate.

With this image I wanted the illustration to be clear that “My Hair is a State” without actually having it in text so I created an elaborate mess of hair complete with a birds nest and an array of things you may find in an unkempt mane.

Work was created both digitally and traditionally.

The Zealandia Botanical Trail was an amazing project completed with Studio C Design and Zhū Creative in which over 150 illustrations were created for Zealandia’s way-finding redesign.

Zealandia Eco-sanctuary is a beautiful wildlife reserve in the heart of Wellington city. The Botanical Trail was the first step in the redevelopment of the sanctuaries signage system. The trail takes the visitor on a journey amongst the abundant native plant and bird life through the sanctuary.

Pippa Keel and I created illustrations of every native plant within the sanctuary for the signage, to aid visitors in learning about the native species before them. This included pop-out illustrations of important parts of the plant.

The illustrations were also used in a wider context throughout the sanctuary, on brochures and large scale signage.

Illustrations shown on this page are by me.
Pippa Keel of Zhū Creative created half of the 150 illustrations, a snippet of which can be found at their website here
Art direction and design by Studio C
Photography by Ricky Situ at Zhū Creative

Forest Snacks is a personal project I created because I love playing with illustration and type and wanted to explore that further.

This 50 meter mural was designed and created as part of the Auaha Evolving Spaces project by Lower Hutt City Council with Studio C and Pippa Keel.

Alongside Studio C, Pippa and I collaborated with the Lower Hutt community to design and paint this space. We made large stencils that were taped to the wall and used to paint with by the students at Sacred Heart Collage.

This was an amazing project that allowed us to connect and collaborate with the community and beautify the space that was otherwise neglected.

Illustration collaboration with Pippa Keel
Art direction by Studio C
Photos by Ricky Situ

A personal piece created simply for the fun of it.

This one incorporates two of my favourite things to draw.. botanicals and squiggly friends.

Akarua Wines is an award winning boutique winery based in Central Otago. Incorporated in the label is the Central Otago Mountain Daisy, the trademark image of their wines.

I created the illustration work for the label and packaging for Rua Rosé.

Packaging designed by the amazing Sara at Sartoria Creative @sartoria_creative

A fun commission for a client and her niece.

I was asked by Antipodes Skincare to create some floral designs and paint them on three models using their Halo Mud Mask for a social media competition.

This was a super fun project with the team at Antipodes, allowing me to use a canvas and media I had never used before.

All photography by the team at Antipodes.

Base makeup by Amy McLennan - www.amymclennanmakeup.com

Folktales were originally gory morbid stories, told to children to teach them lessons, to scare them into getting home before dark and not to talk to strangers. Over the years the folktale has become more romanticised. The original lessons have become lost through multiple re-tellings.

“Red” explores the original folktales and compares them with the modern re-tellings in the form of a five metre long concertina book. The book follows the tale with hidden folds that reveals the original story.

Traditionally drawn and inked, water coloured and stitched together in Photoshop.

This artwork was created for the cover of National Libraries Music Month. They wanted something fun and eye catching that would encourage passers-by to pick it up and discover what was on.

Completed digitally using Adobe Photoshop and Wacom.

Art direction and graphic design by Celeste Skachill at Studio C