About Me

Hi there, thanks for visiting my web site, this is where I tell you a little bit about my self and the things I create.

I live in Edinburgh, Scotland’s beautiful capital city. I’m a self employed illustrator and hand lettering artist, working on commissions from a range of worldwide clients. These include book publishers and homeware and greeting card manufacturers. I also have two online shops where I sell my hand lettered and illustrated prints and cards. You can find the links to both my shops at the bottom of the page.

I’ve always loved art. After leaving school I headed off to art college in the breezy seaside town of Blackpool in the North West of England. During my time there I made some great friends, met my future husband Charlie, and graduated with a Higher National Diploma in Graphic Design.

Soon afterwards Charlie and I moved to Manchester and started our graphic design careers. My life turned around in my mid thirties when Charlie and I decided to realise our long term goal of travelling the world. We spent an unforgettable twelve months living out our dreams across South America, the South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia and Asia.

While we were away we learned a lot about ourselves and each other. I also realised that while I loved my job as a graphic designer my greatest strengths lay in my hand lettering and illustration skills.

A few months after arriving back in England I embarked on a three year part time design and illustration degree course, focusing on illustration and hand lettering. The following years where a roller coaster of despair and joy. Finding time to fit my studies in around a full time graphic design job and learning to write essays again was a tough call, but learning new creative skills and rediscovering long forgotten talents were some of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. I finally got my happy ending in the summer of 2009 when I graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University with a first class degree with honours, I didn’t stop smiling for days!

Six months later, after spending the summer designing my own collection of cards and prints I launched my online shops. Since then my business has grown and I now also work on lettering and illustration commissions and have a base of independent retailers who stock my prints and cards. One of my clients, Laura Clifford of Curiouser & Curiouser in Edinburgh, says:

‘Alex is a very skilled designer and print maker and we are delighted to stock her work. She has a great eye for a strong image, combined with a clever use of colour. Her ‘Nutter’ bag always raises a smile and is one of our top sellers’.

In my free time I still love to travel, taking my laptop, pencils and sketchbook along with me. I’m continually inspired by hand lettering, vintage typography and hand painted signs from around the world.

I love working on commissions, some of my clients include Harper Collins Publishers, American Greetings, Studio Oh!, Design House Greetings, Afternoon Tea and The Cloud Appreciation Society.

I was a contributing artist to Jenny Doh’s ‘More Creative Lettering‘ book published by Lark in 2015 and ‘Hand Lettering‘ by Thy Doan Graves published by Quarto in 2017. My work has appeared in Uppercase Magazine, Mollie Makes and Homemaker magazine.

You can buy my art prints in my Etsy print shop here: www.etsy.com/shop/snowdonprints
My greetings cards are available here: www.etsy.com/shop/Snowdon

To contact me, just click on the email link right here: alexandrasnowdon@yahoo.com