Author Blog
Art Focus Magazine July 2026
Helene’s work is guided by a simple idea: if children fall in love with wildlife, they will grow up wanting to protect it. Stories have a unique ability to build emotional connections. When we care about a character, we care about what happens to them. Through storytelling, wildlife becomes more than a distant conservation issue -it becomes personal.
Author Life
Art Focus Magazine May 2026
There is something quietly powerful about art that not only captures beauty, but also caries a story that lingers long after the first glance. That is the space Helene Gardiner has carved out for herself, where fine art meets purpose, and where storytelling becomes a bridge between people and the natural world.
Author Life
Capturing Hearts and Minds
Illustration is Easy, right?
Splash around a bit of paint, and let the child’s imagination do the rest. Throw in a bit of anthropomorphism and voila, you have characters that even #Disney would be proud of!
Then of course, there’s #AI; it’s changing the game and opening up the market to any wannabe illustrator (or author), and not always in a good way!
When I began illustrating wildlife’s stories to raise awareness for their decline, I had some important goals in mind. I wanted to make wildlife ‘accessible’ to everyone, but also give the #animals whose stories I told, the best chance of capturing hearts and minds.
A well illustrated picture book brings a story alive, engaging and immersing the audience. Something that is paramount when you’re hoping to get both your reader, and listener, to invest in your characters and their conservation!
The writing is also equally important. We’ve all read a picture book with great illustrations, only to feel ‘jarred’ or disappointed by the words.
A great picture book has to flow in symbiotic harmony; a ‘symphony’ so-to-speak. It’s not written overnight, on the back of a cigarette packet, whilst sat in a bar. It’s expertly crafted, like a fine cognac, matured, re-casketed, and tasted, until it’s at its absolute best.
So, like the finest of cognacs, my stories are crafted over many months (sometimes years) and the characters lovingly hand-painted in watercolour, in order to truly engage each animal with BOTH the reader, and the listener, #captureheartsandminds, and form an unforgettable bond… forever.
Here’s a happy albatross to brighten your day. x
Watercolour image of an albatross, floating in the ocean. From the children’s book ‘Albatross and the Rubbish’ by Helene Gardiner.