Illustration & Surface Pattern

Artwork that does real work for your brand.

Brooks Smith Creative is an independent studio making hand-drawn illustration and repeat patterns for companies that want original character in their products — not stock art that everybody else is using.

License artwork See the work
An illustrator's desk with open sketchbooks, watercolour swatches and ink brushes arranged on a wooden surface

The studio

Drawn by hand, built for products.

Every piece starts with paper and pencil. Botanical illustrations, bold repeat patterns, hand-lettered type, playful character work. It all begins the same way: drawing until something clicks, then refining it until it is genuinely good rather than merely finished.

The artwork ends up on greeting cards, tea towels, ceramics, fabric, wrapping paper and book covers. Brands licence the illustrations to use on their products; some commission new work built around their brief. Either way, you get something made properly rather than assembled from a template.

About the studio

What the studio makes

Three disciplines, one consistent hand.

Close-up of detailed botanical watercolour illustration showing leaves and flowers on cream paper
Patterns

Surface pattern & repeat design

Seamless repeat patterns for fabric, wallpaper, wrapping and homeware. Botanical, geometric, character-led — designed to tile perfectly and print beautifully.

A spread of illustrated greeting cards with hand-drawn characters laid flat on a light surface
Illustration

Editorial & character illustration

Figures, creatures and scenes that tell a story at a glance. Greeting cards, packaging, editorial spots, book covers — work that stands up to being looked at twice.

Hand-lettered brush script text on card stock with ink pens nearby
Lettering

Hand-lettering & type

Custom scripts, display lettering and illustrated type, for product labels, cards, prints and branding that needs something more than a downloaded font.

Good illustration earns its keep. It says what a photograph cannot, and stays interesting longer than a trend.

Flat-lay of fabric swatches with printed floral surface pattern designs arranged on a studio worktable

Why licensed illustration?

Originality is a product feature.

Stock libraries have millions of images, but they are the same millions of images your competitors are looking at. When a greeting card, tea towel or wrapping-paper range has a genuinely distinctive look, people notice, and they come back for more of it.

Licensing artwork from an independent illustrator gives you something that is yours. You can use it across a whole product range, build a visual identity around it, and develop that relationship over time. The artwork can be exclusive or non-exclusive depending on your budget and market. The licensing page explains exactly how it works.

12+

Years drawing professionally

60+

Brand and publishing clients

400+

Patterns and illustrations in the archive

Something specific in mind?

Commissions are open. Send a brief, a mood board, or just a sentence about what you are trying to make. The conversation usually goes well from there.

How licensing works Say hello