Rohan Eason — Pen and Ink Illustrator, London

Originally from Middlesborough, Rohan Eason is a pen and ink illustrator who uses the simplicity of black and white imagery to allow the ideas behind each picture to step to the fore. His work has become widely used in book illustration – for children and adults. Rohan grew up surrounded by creatives – his father is a ceramicist, his sister a printmaker, his mother multi-disciplinary artist and his uncle was a painter. Although there were always art materials around when he was a child, and he felt his destiny was to be an artist, eventually he rebelled and joined a band. One day, he was struck by some Aubrey Beardsley prints in his grandmother’s house and decided to write his dissertation on the artist. Today, Rohan has a portfolio full of similar work covering everything from fabric prints to children’s books. His dream is to one day buy an old train carriage and turn it into a bar.

Training

After a foundation course in Art, Rohan completed a BA in Fine Art Printmaking at Croydon College, while at the same time sneaking into painting sessions at the School of Art & Design at Kingston College.

Approach

Rohan uses pen and ink, and generally works in black and white. All his work begins with a focus on composition. He decides on the elements required in the image, and then how to arrange them. After coming up with an effective structure, he moves on to fine tuning the viewpoint and the emphasis in the image, to give it an emotional impact. Though well established as a black and white illustrator, recently Rohan has been mastering colour and has used it in a children’s book he’s illustrated.

Style

Some categorise Rohan’s style as classical, but he sees it as thoroughly modern. There’s strength and clarity in his work, alongside subtle nuances that will remind you of Art Nouveau. Beardsley’s influence is clear, but Rohan is also a fan of Arthur Rackham’s illustrations, and the art of Mark Grotjahn and Mark Rothko, among others.

Client list

Pegasus Life Mark Smith Design DDB Deutschland Volkswagen Macmillan Penguin group Pushkin Press Candlewick Press Oxford University Press Random House Marlborough Press Orion One Peace Books Royal Shakespeare Company Rapha