AOI Mentorship: Developing and Utilising Your Voice – Part 3
In our third and concluding article, nine of our 2025 Mentees share what they’ve learned over the last six months, how the scheme has helped them to enjoy a fresh perspective, whilst looking ahead to the future.
As we rapidly approach the end of 2025, we conclude one of our most fulfilling initiatives: The AOI Mentorship scheme.
Run freely by illustrators for illustrators, with support from the AOI, the yearly programme supports a select cohort of underrepresented illustrators based in the UK as well as internationally, pairing them with an Illustrator or Agent who generously provide 1-1 advice and guidance for a period of up to 6 months – always grounded on each mentee’s set goals, laid out from the very start.
In recent years we’ve seen our AOI mentees kickstart their illustration careers, go on to gain agency representation, win competitions and secure dream commissions.
Wrapping up the year with this final third parter of our feature series, we asked nine of our 2025 mentees about how their mentors supported them in developing or evolving their visual voice during the course of the scheme.
Creating Opportunities and Goals
Ariel Victor, mentored by Ashwin Chacko, discussed real world applications of the work: “Through conversations and case studies of Ashwin’s past work, I learned how self-initiated projects can evolve into commercial opportunities.” This helped Ariel uncover recurring tendencies in his past projects, particularly transforming flowers into characters with personality. “Ashwin encouraged me to imagine how this work could live in different industries, which gave me a clearer sense of how my visual voice can carry across both personal explorations and real-world applications.”
Gilmary Gil, mentored by Laurindo Feliciano, gained focus: “The mentorship has given me both structure and direction in pursuing my goals. Through focused guidance and exercises, I’ve been able to identify the steps needed to position myself within my niche and gain clarity on how to approach briefs and clients. Beyond strategy, the mentorship has offered me a supportive space to refine my storytelling and adapt my style for broader markets while still staying true to my essence. Having consistent feedback and accountability has been invaluable in keeping me motivated and moving forward with purpose”.
What I love about the mentorship is that you create a set of goals you have for yourself and your practice
Jasmine Baker mentored by Diane Ewen
Whilst setting goals can seem daunting, Jasmine Baker and her mentor Diane Ewen tackled this early on: “What I love about the mentorship is that you create a set of goals you have for yourself and your practice at the beginning. It offers a time and place to sit and reflect on all of the things that make you most excited about creating, and the hopes you have for where it could lead.”
Chantal Valerie, mentored by agent Emma Layfield from Children’s Books North Agency, reflects on the importance of accountability. “I think one of the greatest things about a mentorship is that it keeps you really focused. I have often found myself jumping from project to project with many of them left uncompleted along the way. But when you have a call with your mentor scheduled you just have to sit down and do the thing you said you were going to do”.
Working independently has it’s perks, but having a valued perspective can do wonders. For Lew Pearce mentored by agent Sam Walker (Brilliant Artists): “The mentorship has really helped me to develop my confidence as an illustrator and streamline my process (…). Just having someone to give feedback on my work and an open dialogue about how to navigate the illustration industry has been a great help to my creative and professional confidence.”
Nada Ree and Rose Anthony were able to understand the importance of being intentional about their future steps, as well as balancing their ambitions. “Since the mentorship began, I have been submitting my work to multiple magazines, and Lynda has been guiding me in developing a picture book manuscript pitch to send to publishers. Lynda reassured me that my current style is already suitable for many markets, including educational books for young readers”, shares Nada who was mentored Lynda Murray from Hachette Learning.
I think one of the greatest things about a mentorship is that it keeps you really focused
Chantal Valerie mentored by agent Emma Layfield, Children’s Books North Agen
Mentored by illustrator Zoë Barker, Rose says: “As a recent graduate, I’ve been struggling to balance creating work outside of my job and managing a studio. Zoë was really helpful in giving advice on how to mould my website and how to put the best work shine. I have also started work on my first children’s book, inspired by my summer holidays spent with my maternal grandmother. These images, both personal and imagined, I hope will help lend an authentic voice to underrepresented places and people.”
Personal changes don’t need to derail illustrators and their work, but they do need to be recognised and adapted to. For Wajeeha Abbasi mentored by illustrator Claudine O’Sullivan: “Because of my corporate job, moving countries and lifestyle changes, I had relied too much on what I have been doing all this time, without feeling a real connection with my work. Claudine helped me recognize this, confront my emotions around my work and has been helping me move past that mental block and reconnect with my work”.
Despite being early days some of these ambitions are already bearing fruit. Rose happily shared that she’s secured two overseas client projects to illustrate packaging. “I have also been selected for a group exhibition next year at The Gerald Moore Gallery at South East London”.
Being proactive in order to share their work and build their client base takes time, so refreshing this approach will yield results. Rose stated: “I created a new, professional website that effectively showcases my skills. She also shared my work with multiple contacts, providing valuable feedback on which topics, themes, and subject matter to add to my portfolio. I was incredibly happy that the mentorship has helped me grow creatively, professionally, and strategically in my career”.
New Perspective on the visual voice
Chantal and Gilmary felt encouraged to take a fresh but honest look at her work. Chantal shared that “Through working with Emma, I decided to focus on my pencil work and build on that and to be honest, it’s been such a relief! My acrylic work has always felt laboured, and I think that showed in my final artwork.”
For Gilmary, intention was fundamental: “My mentor has helped me view my work with a new perspective and intention. To embrace the core elements of my visual voice while also showing me how to adapt it for professional opportunities without losing authenticity. I’ve learned how to sharpen my narratives, refine my style, and lean into the qualities that make my work uniquely mine”
Renewing passion for their work has been an important process, Jasmine noted that “Diane has made me take a step back and view my work from a new perspective, and have confidence in it. Falling back in love with the process and silly sketches, has also allowed me to carry on with my portfolio development with a new sense of ease and spark of creativity’.
Experimentation through self-initiated work can be an exciting way to explore the potential projects that they are keen to get from clients. For JUM (aka Julia Marinelli) mentored by illustrator Carina Lindmeier tells us: “Carina has been sending me very cool briefs designed specifically for the type of clients I want to attract. And with that I have been able to not only create a more complete and more cohesive portfolio but also understand what a potential client would expect from a brief”.
Similarly, this has helped both Nada and Rose’s confidence grow: “Lynda encouraged me to experiment with new techniques and develop a regular sketchbook practice. As a result, I began sketching daily for 10–40 minutes in the morning, which not only made me feel good but also empowered me creatively. Although I struggle to maintain daily habits due to ADHD, this is something I will always remember and continue to practice consistently. Her guidance gave me confidence in my artistic direction”.
For Rose: “I have been in a place where I wasn’t able to see my work evolve, and Zoë has really helped me see that. She emphasised how, as an illustrator, I am capable of conveying emotion and drama through composition and detail. Especially in my open call entry for the Folio Society, Zoe really listened to my concepts and also helped me analyse my work better. I also worked on reframing my picture book project Memoirs from A life Never Lived with Zoë’s feedback. Making the narrative flow more convincingly”.
The process is just as important as the work for Wajeeha, which Carina helped him realise: “She has helped me to let go of the idea of perfectionism and expectation from my work and just enjoy the process of creating. This mentorship has been like opening of a new door for me, where I am regaining my confidence in my work and finding job just creating!”
Key Learning from the Mentorship Scheme
As this year’s scheme drew to a close, taking onboard key learning from the mentorship is the most important part of the process.
As Rose articulated: “Putting the best work forward and making sure you create the work you want to be commissioned for. I feel like the most important thing is to keep creating the work you believe in and in finding work that motivates you as a creative person in these turbulent times”.
Having the regular contact became a source of motivation for Nada: “I looked forward to each meeting at the end of the month, excited to share my progress with Lynda. It became a consistently positive and motivating experience in my life. She has been incredibly generous in sharing her knowledge, such as pitching to publishers. considerations. Lynda also encouraged me to consider seeking an agent I now feel more capable of navigating the industry.. I can look at my work in a new light and believe in myself”.
For Jasmine this meant fellowship: “Though it feels like such a simple thing, but being able to talk through my work, creative to creative, has been really motivational. I feel more joy in making things again, and I’m really excited about what’s next for my practice. ….you need a sense of creative community to bounce your ideas off of, to keep you on your toes and growing as an artist – especially as a freelance one”.
This shift has been transformative for me
Wajeeha Abbasi mentored by Claudine O’Sullivan
Having an experienced but supportive mentor has helped Wajeeha and Chantal break free from their restraints: “… the biggest moment for me to confront and accept I have been so hung up on creating perfect work that it has created a fear in me and has led me to disconnect with my work. I feel very strongly that I can move past this fear and find my love for illustration again. I am very grateful to Claudine for supporting me during this process”. Chantal concurred: “Apart from the realisation that I should focus on my pencil work – which has been huge – I have also come to learn about the important role that typography plays, especially when it comes to cover design. I look at them much more carefully….how much thought goes into them and how much they contribute to establishing a book’s characters and creating a recognisable brand”.
Wajeeha also stated that “A key moment was when my mentor pointed out how often I questioned myself and my process. My mentor reassured me that asking questions is valuable for learning and gathering insight, whether in a mentorship or with clients, but also emphasized the importance of trusting my own voice. What matters most is taking that first step with conviction, then using feedback as an opportunity to find solutions. This shift has been transformative for me”.
I can look at my work in a new light and believe in myself
Rose Anthony mentored by Zoë Barker
Being a confident illustrator is also something that can be learned and be beneficial in navigation clients and briefs. As Lew tells us; “One key moment was working on a speculative brief which Sam set up for me to get professional experience working with client feedback. This gave me a great opportunity to exercise my time management and skills. Often in my work I have felt that I don’t know what ‘my style’ means, but with this brief I realised that just by working to the specification the stylistic choices which make up my visual voice happened naturally, this was a huge confidence boost”
Meet all of our 2025 mentees here
We want to thank mentees Ariel Victor, Gilmary Gil, Jasmine Baker, Lew Pearce, Nada Ree, Rose Anthony, Wajeeha Abbasi, JUM and Chantal Valerie
With special thanks to our mentors for sharing their support and expertise with their respective mentees.
Take a look at Part 1 and Part 2 of our AOI Mentorship series to read our earlier conversations with our 2025 Mentees.
We’ll be announcing details of our 2026 scheme soon. Keep an eye on our Mentorship News as well our Instagram for news!
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