About Rock Paper Swan
An independent UK small business, designing illustrated cards, prints, and gifts
Hi I’m Amy, an illustrator creating beautiful things to encourage and connect people – any project that’s about letting someone know they’re not alone is right up my street.
I started designing cards and gifts in 2018 because I struggled to find the sorts of things I wanted to send: not just for the big days and birthdays, but the bad days and in-between days too. In my illustration work I often cover themes of faith and spirituality, community, and grief and loss.
My favourite project tends to be the latest thing I’ve made, and I always want to try something new, from creating artworks out of felt to learning how to make stop motion videos.
I also have a nerdy wordy side, and have been offering copywriting services to other small businesses through my second business Ace and Wren since 2020.
The Book of Hours Project
As a contemporary illustrator, I’m fascinated by medieval illustrated manuscripts – how did they to create all this art without digital layers, copy-and-paste, and (my all-time-favourite) the Undo button?
I’m creating my own card deck inspired by the Book of Hours, and I’d love it to be a collaborative thing. I’ve started up a Patreon here so that you can help to shape the project.
We’re also discussing what we can learn from these bestsellers of the Middle Ages, as well as the spirituality, quirky historical facts and interesting people of this period.
I could chat for hours about…
- Stationery
- Small business life and marketing
- Plants: succulents, vegetables, ornamentals, the lot.
- Psychology, neurodiversity, and Enneagram types
- Grief and loss in modern culture
- How absolutely all of us are creative (even if we’ve been taught otherwise!)