A NORTHERN ILLUSTRATOR WITH A MARKER AND A TINY BISON


I'm Steph, a shark obsessed Mum with a marker. I'm 33 and live on the blustery Fylde Coast not far from glitzy old Blackpool seaside with my grizzly bear of a husband, Ciaran, and “tiny bison”, Erik.

I’m the illustrator, designer, social media gal, product photographer, tech whizz wannabe, packing queen, and Ciaran would say chief “mess-maker”.

 Ciaran is the Tiny Bison head cheerleader, tech support and chief tea maker and chef. Occasionally he is also our postie and assistant photographer. 

Erik is a part-time model, Tiny Bison influencer, junior assistant mess-maker, sticker thief and stationary assassin.  

Tiny Bison came out of many things but most notably it was the overwhelming love I had for my own tiny bison, “Eriko”, my desire to work flexibly around my family, and the rediscovery of my love for drawing which helped me see light after a dark period of postnatal depression. 

Motherhood was dizzying, wonderful, constantly a whirl of emotions and I wanted to capture them all not just in photographs but in “our own way”. I wanted  these tiny treasured moments to last a lifetime in our homes and so I begun experimenting with acetate illustrations - just a mama and her marker frantically sketching while her baby slept (often back then!). I layered portraits of Erik as he turned from newborn to a little chunk propped on the sofa, to the tiny boy he was turning into. A few family and friend commissions later and on New Year’s Day 2020 I turned to Ciaran and said “ok, I’ll give it six months and see if anyone actually likes my stuff”.

Six years, many new products, hundreds of portraits, collaborations, markets and Christmas collections later and I’m still here! I expanded children’s stationary, zines and prints inspired by my love of the natural world and created a sold out kids travel journal that’s travelled to 4 continents! 

By shopping tiny you’ve transformed this family and this mama with her marker. Tiny Bison has become so much more than my family, but what makes it, is yours.

So, here’s to celebrating those tiny moments, let’s just see where they take us!