Anthony Cooley

Anthony Cooley is a young up and coming artist with a conscience. He recently donated a

painting to the organisation PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which

raised over $1,000 for the animal rights charity, what an inspirational idea !

I got in touch with Anthony to find out just what makes him tick and he kindly answered a few

of my questions for my blog. He spent four years studying illustration at the University of Ulster

in Derry, Northern Ireland. ” I dabbled in many forms of visual media including illustration,

animation, graphic design and photography to name a few and thoroughly enjoyed all

elements of my degree. For me illustration was the one area I have always had the greatest interest in,

ever since a young age. I’m continuously looking for new ways to learn and develop my style. ”

When creating his work, Anthony tries to make the largest part of it hand-drawn.

He draws the outlines and creates textures by hand and then uses photoshop to literally put

all of the pieces together and finally to also apply the colour.

Anthony wants to illustrate Children’s books. He’s always had a fascination with them

from being a child, and  feels like he would like to be able to create for other children,

those special feelings that story books gave to him, all those years ago.

He’s also influenced by Graffiti artists like Californian Alex Pardee, and the films of

manga artist Hayao Miyazaki and the equally creative Tim Burton.

The future for Anthony is hopefully going to be all about Childrens’ book illustration.

In the meantime he is selling some lovely prints here, check them out.