About

Hi, I’m Jennie, an Illustrator living in Reading, UK with my husband, two kids and Pixel the schnauzer. I love to design joyful characters and patterns for kids for products that their parents will want to keep for themselves.

During the day I work as the Senior Art Editor for the monthly scientific journals Nature Reviews Neuroscience and Nature Reviews Biodiversity, drawing top notch scientific figures and the occasional anthropomorphic mouse. In September 2024 I was interviewed by the Society For Neuroscience for a live Q & A session on drawing up successful scientific figures. I have previously worked on grant applications for Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and drew the diagrams for Matt Parker’s Times’ and New York Times’ best selling maths book ‘Love triangle’ published in June 2024.

I’ve known I wanted to be an Illustrator from the moment I found out that it was a real job. I spent my childhood making models of insects at our kitchen table and writing elaborately decorated letters to the tooth fairy. Now I make things for the odd little girl that I used to be, and for my own kids, with all their wonderful quirks and strange obsessions.

I would really love to work in children’s publishing and surface design. My dream is to see my patterns on kid’s clothing and homeware, and to work on a series of science books for kids. If you would like to license any of my work, or just want to get in touch, please send an email to hello@jennievallis.co.uk.

You can also find me on Instagram.

Photo by the ever fabulous Alex Genn-Bash.