Jenna Skead

South African artist Jenna Skead has a particular love of pattern and surface design. She enjoys a handmade aesthetic and works with colour blocking and paper cut-outs, intentionally placing the elements playfully and sensitively to evoke a sense of wonder and naivety within her art. Jenna uses a mixture of black line, mixed media and repeat patterns in her range of illustration projects. 

Her favourite pastime is working from a pile of paper off-cuts and magazines and creating artwork and defining them with line drawings.  She has created two children’s books ‘The Things We Lost at Sea’ and ‘Niklaus, and the Plastic Moose’,  which feature her whimsical illustrations, layered with Photoshop renderings and hand-drawn black pen.

Jenna’s freelance practice encompasses personal and commercial illustration. She is currently working on ‘Print + Pattern’, a monthly pattern project. 

Initially based in Cape Town, South Africa, Jenna has been living and working in the United States for the last three years. She qualified with a diploma in graphic design from Nelson Mandela University in her hometown of Port Elizabeth, before graduating in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree from the Cape Town University of Technology. 

CONTACT

Portfolio: jennaskead.com
Instagram: @jennaskeadsurface