Kristyna Litten

Kristyna studied Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art and graduated in 2010.  She learnt to draw, design and create for a wide range of subject matter, often enjoying collaborations with graphic designers, costume designers and writers. She now lives in a beautiful village in Yorkshire where she is heavily reliant on the good old pencil and a great big cup of tea to keep her going, whilst habitually singing, or twiddling her hair. She prefers to draw quickly to give an energetic line quality to her illustrations, often adding colour and other hand-produced textures digitally. Her sophisticated colour palette, interest in pattern and hand drawn typography gives Kristyna's work an originality which can be applied to all manner of illustration.

Having been brought up surrounded by books and animation primarily from Eastern Europe where her mother is from, Kristyna often refers back to these influences and illustrators such as Josef Sasek and Marc Boutavant. This has led to a fascination for illustrating and writing her own picture books, where she's keen to create loveable characters and charming narratives.  Her first picture book, Flint's Odd Socks, followed by Chickens Can't See In The Dark were highly commended for the Macmillan Prize two year's running.