About | Toby Rampton

Toby Rampton is a British illustrator, printmaker and educator based in Cambridge, UK. He graduated with a Masters degree in Children’s Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art in 2024 with a distinction. He currently works as a freelance illustrator and a part time Associate Lecturer at Cambridge School of Art's MA Children's Book Illustration.

Toby has 10 years’ experience as an illustrator, working with giftware companies, magazines, environmental art installations and printmaking workshops. Some of his clients include NHS UK, Art Angels, Anorak, Storytime and Bookblock. Alongside commissions, Toby is also a printmaker who stocks various shops in the UK and exhibits his screen prints in Europe and Asia.

Awards:

Highly Commended - Macmillan Prize for Illustration 2024 (Cloudburst)

Winner - 58th Illustrators Exhibition, Bologna Children's Book Fair 2024 (Buzz, Buzz, Hop, Hic)

Merit - 3x3 International Illustration Awards, textiles and patterns 2015

Highly Commended - Macmillan Prize for Illustration 2014 (The Mambo)

Highly Commended - Macmillan Prize for Illustration 2013 (Endurance)

For illustration commissions, or to say hello

Send a message to toby@tobyrampton.com

For all literary enquires please contact

Lorna Hemingway at Bell Lomax Moreton Literary Agency

lorna@bell-lomax.co.uk

Keeping busy in my cosy little Cambridge studio - here's a little snoop into my favourite drawing space ✨
I have been busy drawing for my own projects and teaching the wonderful students at @csacbi recently. I'm so grateful for these amazing opportunities and I can't wait to share more work with you all soon.
Also, thank you to everyone who ordered my collaborative merch with @wellniceprints recently, you can still grab some from their website if you haven't already 💛

I am SO excited to team up with @wellniceprints and release a limited edition of tees, totes and stickers inspired by Squeegee (the studio dog 🐕).

Squeegee has been my friend since she was a pup so I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to combine Squeegee and my love for screen printing into this collection 😊

You can view the collection through the link on my page or through Well Nice’s website!
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All items in this range will be available to buy for a limited time only before going into production. Pre orders will close on Sunday 3rd November at midnight GMT.

They will then be screen printed in Norwich onto ethically sourced and eco-friendly fabrics by @vinosangre and delivered to you in late November / early December – in time for Christmas!

Thanks to @joeereira for the merch photos 📸 and @jostafford for giving me this opportunity!

had a wonderful time visiting the @bolognachildrensbookfair exhibition that is currently hosted at @otanimuseum in Nishinomiya, Japan. I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with such an impressively large banner of my artwork at the entrance to the museum. It put such a big smile on my face 🌞. Look at the size of my crocodile!

Seeing all of the bologna artwork spread out in a large gallery space was such a different experience to the hustle and bustle of BCBF in Italy 🐛

Then I made a stop at @retroinsatsujam in Osaka to check out the amazing screen print and riso space 🎉. I am feeling very spoilt by all of the lovely places and people in Japan 🌈

Feeling very thankful that I was asked to create the visual identity for @csapicturebooksummerschool 2024 ✏💛

Making two characters that represent both groups of students joining the Summer School was a real treat. I love their little journey through the woods 🌿

I'm also a tutor on the course during the week (29th July-2nd August). I can't wait to meet the students and chat about making picturebooks and printmaking 🌞

ALSO, every evening between Monday 29th July - Friday 2nd August we host a guest lecture as part of the Picturebook Lecture Programme! Check out the Picturebook Summer School instagram for more info about tickets for the event 🎟

@cambridge_school_of_art
@angliaruskin

Happy to hear that my book Cloudburst has been highly commended at the @macmillankidsuk prize for illustration 2024 😊🌧🌈

It was great seeing lots of familiar faces from @csacbi at the awards ceremony yesterday as well as catching up with my amazing tutors and the lovely team at Pan Macmillan 🙌

I had so much fun making this book and playing with all the potential to have fun on a grey rainy day. Hooray!

Congratulations to @abi.bi.art for being awarded 1st place, @clairesahara for 2nd and @antararamanillustration for 3rd! Very well deserved 🌞🙌

Had a wonderful time at @bolognachildrensbookfair 2024 🎉 Feeling very lucky to have graduated with such an amazing bunch of talented illustrators from @csacbi @cambridge_school_of_art 😊.

Big thanks to our tutors @pamsmyillustrator @shellajack_maker @oluoke @elysdolan and Hannah Webb for keeping the stand in working order!

1. Me with a couple of my picture books.
2. The MA Children's Book Illustration stand ft. Dog Man photobomb.
3. My fingerpainted frog on the MA CBI stand wall.
4. Blending in with the MA CBI stand.
5, 6, 7. My screen prints in the BCBF 2024 illustrators exhibition
8, 9. Drawing on the window at @thisiscombo hostel.
10. Feet up at the end of the day with @laurafullerillustration 😊

Making a portfolio ready for my final @csacbi hand in🖌🎨 (expectation vs reality)

Very excited to announce that I am now represented by the wonderful literary agent @lornahemingway at @belllomaxmoreton for all picture book enquiries! 🌈

Looking forward to new things ahead 🙌

Screen printed envelopes heading out today 🌿✉🌱

I will bring the rest to @bolognachildrensbookfair and leave them with publishers after portfolio meetings 🙌

I am at the fair all week (April 8-11), ping me a message if you're going too! 🌞

Hanging out with some friends this weekend 🌿

I'm so excited to be exhibiting in @csacbi graduate show at @candidartstrust in London next week from 13th-17th February, 10am-6pm.

There are SO many fantastic illustrators taking part in the show, it's going to be a good one 🎉 See you there!

Follow the show on @csacbi 's Instagram and view our portfolios on our website: www.cambridgemashow.com

Feeling chuffed to bits that I had the wonderful opportunity to illustrate the cover and spot illustrations for @csacbi 2024 graduate catalogue 🙌 Thank you so much to all the tutors and graduating students for trusting me with this! 💛

The catalogue has been printed and shipped to various publishers this month and accompanies our graduate exhibition in London at Candid Arts Trust, 3-5 Torrens St., London, EX1V 1NQ from 13-17 Feb between 10am-6pm each day. All welcome! 🌿

The exhibition will showcase the work of 79 graduating students and their lovely dummy books for the stories worked on during the course. It's going to be a cracker!

Hopefully see you there 😊

The good news has only just sunk in... I have been selected for the Bologna Illustrator's Exhibition 2024! 🎉@bolognachildrensbookfair

The International Jury had 3,520 entrants from 81 countries, and picked 346 finalists and now the final 78 winners. I am among friends from @csacbi and a whole bunch of talented illustrators who will exhibit in Bologna this year.

I submitted illustrations from my author / illustrated book Buzz, Buzz, Hop, Hic! which was made during my time at @cambridge_school_of_art . I can't wait to show them at my grad show and BCBF over the next few months!

Handing in for my final module on the MA @csacbi course at @cambridge_school_of_art, hooray!

This has been such a wonderful experience. I'm very excited for the graduate show in London and Bologna Children's Book Fair next year 🐸. See you all in the new year!

Going over sketchbooks at my new desk in Cambridge ✏

Working on a couple of uni projects and commissions at the moment ☕

I am helping the @cambridge_school_of_art MA Children's Book Illustration committee organise a silent auction next month and I'm super excited! 🙌

We have received lots of generous donations from students, alumni and friends so far. Thank you to everyone who has helped us with this 😊 There will be LOADS of delicious illustration and prints available to buy on the night. All are welcome to come and support graduating students participating in Bologna Children's Book Fair in April '24. Please feel free to share with anyone who might be interested ✨

We will post some teasers of the event on the course account @csacbi and reveal more soon!

Event info:
15th November, 6-8pm (bidding is between 6-7pm). Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge Campus, East Road, CB1 1PT, Ruskin Building, Room name: RUS 206 (MA CBI studio).

Analogue screen prints and colour experiments 🌴

I often plan my screen prints thoroughly before entering the print room but recently I've allowed myself to play with colour and layer combinations while printing. The process takes a while but the images usually turn out better than I could have planned. Maybe I just like the surprise of various different outcomes 🌘

These hand drawn acetates are drawn on true grain with black acrylic / Indian ink / chalk pastel and then exposed onto a screen to make a stencil. Other layers are paper stencils cut from newsprint. I'm keen to write a blog post that documents my process more thoroughly, I keep talking myself out of it though!

Train doodles and sketchbook fights 💀

I just moved to Cambridge, drop me a message if you're about and want to draw!

You haven't read Floater in My Eye? It's a classic!

Had fun noodling in the print room with this one ✨ It started life as a screen print using hand drawn stencils, then I scanned it into photoshop for some tweaking and a few extra book titles.

Leap of faith 🐸

Had some free time this evening to use my Xcut Xpress with tetrapak printing 🔥 I played around with lines and marks, but mostly just had fun pissing about 🐛

Swipe to go back in time through the process

First day playing with my new toy in the studio, a cute little Xcut Xpress die cutter 🐆 I made some drypoint / collagraph prints using tetrapak cartons.

It's been fun playing with a process that is much slower than screen and riso printing. I'm curious to play with combinations of my favourite processes! 🌞

Leftover drawings from the GIF workshop 🐸

More animated fun from my desk 🐸

My goal was to manipulate a characters shape as much as possible. I think I could still inflate this frog much further beyond this now that I've seen the drawings play back in sequence!

Made from one key frame at the beginning and then subsequent drawings without an plan beyond an idea in my head ✏

Playing with stamps in my sketchbook. The stencils turned out better than the printed outcome. Classic.

Caught pooping while pondering by the pond.

Dancing characters 💃 Made during a GIF workshop at uni.

I didn't have a light box so I focussed on making a bunch of dance move drawings to use as key poses in Photoshop. A few too many bums as usual but some things never change.

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