Shakespeare Week Portraits
Dawn Cooper’s William Shakespeare
Who created it?
Dawn Cooper
What is it made of?
Pencil, pen and digital design
Artist Biography
Dawn Cooper is a freelance illustrator based in Bristol, and she loves to draw plants and animals for wildlife books and book covers. She has illustrated two pop-up Shakespeare books for Walker Books, and she has also illustrated a number of products in the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust’s gift range.
About the Picture
This image was sketched in individual pencil layers, then hand-drawn in pen. It was then pieced together in Photoshop, where it was digitally coloured.
Dawn wanted to hint at the light and dark themes in Shakespeare’s plays with the botanicals and Elizabethan style patterns in the background, and says she couldn’t resist including Shakespeare’s trademark ruff!