ABOUT

Kirsti Beautyman is a northern creative who spends majority of her life drawing. Officially she could be classed as an illustrator, picture book author, lecturer and tutor, and a tattoo artist. But she would mainly say her skill set is illustrative and specialised within turning words, ideas and narratives into visuals, whether that be for paper, screens or skin.

CONTACT

For all illustration/general enquiries please contact:

Kirstibeautyman@gmail.com

For any tattoo enquiries please contact:

Themagpierodeo@gmail.com

CAREER

Graduating from Edinburgh College of Art with a BA hons in Illustration in 2016, Kirsti embarked on carving out a career in illustration for herself. Stumbling her way through her first year of freelance, picking up editorial work and creating pieces for advertising, she began working as the designer for Hidden Door Festival in Edinburgh and simultaneously applied to the Picturehooks Mentorship Scheme where she was mentored by illustrator and author, Helen Stephens. In 2017 she exhibited alongside the cohort and mentors in National Gallery Scotland, and was awarded “Picturehooks Illustrator of the Year”.

Later that year she began to work with Alison Green / Scholastic on her first author illustrated picturebook, “The Mist Monster”, alongside illustrating for other publishers and authors.

After signing with an agency in 2019 she continued to work full time in childrens publishing on a range of books, from informative board books for early stage readers, to picturebooks and middle grade.

In 2021, following lockdowns Kirsti began to work as a lecturer, teaching illustration to undergraduate students at the Northern School of Art and taught there for the next three years, aiming to lend the skills and knowledge she had gained throughout her career to her students.

Alongside teaching, Kirsti continued to illustrate books, and also began to train as a tattoo artist.

After travelling to Canada and America in the summer of 2024 and tattooing in studios across the world, she decided to step away from teaching to explore this avenue of her career further.

In 2025 Kirsti spent a year in Australia, travelling, tattooing, writing and also designing. Kirsti is now back in the UK, living up north in her home city of Newcastle Upon Tyne with her partner and dog, and is ready to begin the next chapter of her career in which she plans to create, illustrate and write more (but hopefully speak about herself in the third person a little less).