Meet Jess!
Illustrator
Jess Flower
Age.
13 years old. I’m an only child
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Lives
East Sussex, England, UK
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Favourite hobbies/ interests
Well, obviously I love to draw, but I also love Japanese culture – from their food to manga. I am also the piano player in a band with friends from school.
How long have you been drawing or creating art?
I have been drawing ever since I can remember, creating my own wacky characters from a very young age. I cannot really give a reason for why I started creating art, I just picked up a pen and WHAM! Here I am today.
When I was in nursery, I always used to take part in ‘design your own card’ and ‘design your own bookmark’ competitions. I still do today really J.
Going on the topic of competitions I have won; I created a poster for whale fest in my first primary school and won! I got to go to the exhibition for free, along with my mum and dad. I also won the competition for designing a poster for a wildlife rescue charity on the topic of ‘hedgehog hazards.
My preferred style of drawing really is anime and manga styles. I just love the way that they are drawn, as they look simple, but actually have complex and unique features for every character. As I read a lot of manga at home, I use it for a lot of reference material. Sometimes when I start drawing a manga style piece of work, I can finish it in one sitting as drawing it transports me to another world, time goes past so quickly in what has been hours.
My dream future for me would be an illustrator, manga artist or someone that is in charge of creating original characters for books or manga. I just love creating new people (typically teenagers, but I create characters of varied ages) and exploring their life and their personality, as it makes me feel as though I know them so well and that they actually exist. I also find it very fun to copy anime characters from well-known titles such as ‘my hero academia’.
What do you like about the story “A Shooting Star”?
I feel as though it’s a really nice subtle way of getting across an important message, as it’s more easy to understand why we should recognise the positive aspects in each other rather than the negative.
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What does it mean to you to be part of this book with the other child illustrators around the world?
It feels incredible, I have been waiting so long for an opportunity like this to finally show people my skills, and get my work noticed. I also feel very privileged that I am the only person in the UK involved in illustrating a page for this book.
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How have you used the shooting star with your family or friends?
We have used this method in our family most evenings, explaining to each other why we deserve a shooting star. It’s nice knowing what good things you have done.
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What advice would you give children or teenagers about going for your dreams?
No matter how hard it gets, or how frustrating it gets, never give up. Just keep practising, trying out new styles until you land on one that you love creating art in, and then you can develop your work more in that style to improve your skills. Also, remember that your work is never ‘bad’, art has no wrong or right answers to it.
As a wise Kid, what message to you think humanity/humans needs to hear right now.
That we should always respect our planet, we need to find alternatives to single-use plastic and make a more eco-friendly, clean environment. We need to change our ways before it’s too late, before we suffocate and kill all the natural resources we have left.
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Name one person in your life who you would love to give a shooting star to. Why?
My parents, because they always help me when I feel down, or if I have had a bad day at school. They always put up with me when I have sudden mood swings (as a teenager), and never fail to care for me.
Social media
My Instagram drawing account: @jf__illustations
(the username contains two underscores ‘_’ )
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Contact;
My Instagram account above, and my mum’s email: