Annabel
Age: 24
Pronoun: They/Them
What are your favourite things to watch, play, read, or do?: I love watching animated series and films, it’s a difficult skill that I really admire! One of my favourite series to watch was ‘Hilda’, as it combines fantasy, cute character design and important lessons we learn growing up. It’s a very soothing world to be in. My favourite film was ‘Song of The Sea’ as I find the style and level of detail put into every shot really inspiring, it also has a great soundtrack and is based around some cool folklore! I also love to play video games even though a lot of them make me dizzy, I most enjoyed ‘Kirby’s Epic Yarn’ and ‘Yoshi’s Crafted World’ as they are so positive and creative! Interactive environments are my favourite.
Your favourite creator(s)?: I adore the work of children’s book illustrator Amélie Fléchais, who actually created concept art and backgrounds for ‘Song of the Sea’. Her ability to create fantasy worlds and design such unique characters always inspires me to stretch my imagination.
I am also very interested in crafts and toy making, my favourite currently being Jonathan Le (@jonnyknits) who sells adorable handmade knitted characters, they are silly and colourful yet simple. He gives so much personality to every piece, I hope I can adopt one someday! A big goal of mine is to create my own toys, I aim to make them as loveable as his.
How do you feel being involved in the first Young Person led publishing house?: I think it’s really exciting! The steps between beginning your career and publishing your work can be vague, confusing and kind of scary. Personally, I haven’t known where to start and that goal of having my work published felt far off in the distance. But being involved in Marginal provides such a great opportunity to bridge that gap and get our work out there! It’s great to be involved in something where young people are supporting each other, I can’t wait to see them create amazing things and have their talents appreciated.
What do you hope to get out of your time with Marginal?: By the end of my time with Marginal my aim is to publish my first children’s book! Along the way I will work hard to improve my illustration skills (and learn some new ones), get a better understanding of writing a narrative, how to make a high quality book and the publishing process itself. It would also be great to become more confident in talking about my work and putting myself out there!