Hello, I’m Karis

illustrator animator oxford artist
 

And I’m a Visual Storyteller

 
 

I am a freelance artist based on the Oxford Canal aboard an old butty. The boat serves as a floating studio and has become my strange but serene sanctuary in which to daydream and make things.

I work with clients on illustration, design and animation projects and I create commissioned pieces. I produce personal work which I sell online and locally and I also enjoy writing autofiction and composing music soundscapes. With a penchant for dark tales and folk horror-mythological creatures and uncanny narratives have a habit of creeping into my work, plus the occasional dancing frog for good measure.

I create using a few different mediums, donning varying hats…..often I merge disciplines and enjoy the fun and curious meld of digital and analog, static and moving- but the nature of VISUAL STORYTELLING is what ties all of my endeavours together.

 
Mermaid illustration vintage style Oxford canal
Boat life narrow boat tiny home artist studio

Hatches Open!

 
 
 

Got a project?

If you have a project you’d like me to work on with you, please drop me an email, I’d love to collaborate and hear all about it!

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I love sharing my projects and works in progress/behind the scenes bits n bobs online so please give me a follow

The line work is down for this shapeshifter illustration. I do adore witchy things….So excited about potential colour choices, do I go muted or invert it and have a dark moody background……Also found it incredibly difficult to ske
Really excited to be playing with my paint brushes again as I join the herd of ox sculptures and artists involved in Oxford’s sculpture trail happening this summer. Ox-citingly (yes I’m gunna pun all over this), there is a pop up studio
Happy 1st of March!. Love to you all Spring dreamers! This month for me is all about leaping into Spring, with mad March hares all over the place bouncing about ideas. Here is a print of my illustration ‘Lagomorph’. The word literally me
Do you hear them? Fourty fathoms below they lurk, crooning. A lot of my illustrations grow out of twisting a narrative or the perspective of a well known story-in this case it is is inspired by the pained souls of the fin folk family left behind fore
Pirate? Mermaid? The lovechild of Cindy Lauper and Ziggy Stardust? My ancestry encapsulated in a single image?. No, it’s ‘The Legend Of The Pirate Queen’ AKA ‘The Dark Lady of Doona’, ‘The Iron Lady of the Irish Se
Plopping a minty frog into your morning tea makes for the perfect witches brew 🍵🐸 What’s in the tea leaves for you today? #teatime #teabreak #frogsofinstagram #teabag #timelapsedrawing #teabagart #teapackaging #minttea🍃 #packagingdesign #p
When an illustration doesn’t work, you hate it, you chuck it, you sleep on it. You hate it less and then you add mice. And then it becomes a book cover. A dark history of nursery rhymes has me conjuring up all kinds of creepy cute curiosities&h
Here is Brigid as a print! Had some test prints done as I’m trying to decide on sizings for my Wheel Of the Year calendar…..I’m going to try soooo hard to actually get all the illustrations finished ready for next Yule. But as it&r
Imbolc Blessings!. The flame haired harbinger of better times to come as the crone months of winter depart. (Please let them depart). My interpretation of Brigid is thinly guised as the Saint, but her true Goddess roots and legends are what intrigue
A dreamy illustration for a short story called ‘Moon Gump’ 🌚 #fantasyart #fantasyillustration #toad #frog #moonmagick #bookillustration #storytelling #moonfrog #shaman #darkfantasyart #folktales #fairytaleillustration #oxfordillustrator
Festive Throwbacks 💚Green card: we were told stories of Pat’s childhood growing up as a Northway resident, ( now residing in a flat at the top of Plowman Tower). To the left is Pat as a young girl with her grandfather and cousins, spending Su
Here are some stories behind the Christmas card designs I illustrated for Festive Throwbacks-with inspiration from Frank, Pat and Pam of Northway as well as Amani, Tom, Chris and Cara of Parasol Project. 💜Purple Card: The Northway parade of shops h
I had the pleasure of being involved in a lovely community art project last year. In partnership with the kilsby theatre boat Project, and working alongside the fabulous folk at The Parasol project, we created 🎄Festive throwbacks🎄 This was a deep