Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Detailed everyday observations, inspired by nature, flowing with whimsical imagination.
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Watercolour paints and cold-pressed cotton paper. Lavender, I love its calming scent. A cup of freshly brewed coffee is always close by!
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Pencil, watercolour, leftover broken pencils from my kids, anything I can grab at home.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Beatrix Potter — for her blend of nature, science, soft muted watercolours, and animals in clothes!
A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh illustrations — simple, timeless charm.
Studio Ghibli — Hayao Miyazaki’s worlds full of wonder and whimsical details.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
The late Victorian era when art, science and nature beautifully intertwined. Like Beatrix Potter and Maria Sibylla Merian, I dream of painting hundreds of mushrooms, insects and plants with soft, delicate watercolours.
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What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Always create from the heart. Keep drawing, keep learning, there’s no right or wrong. Trust the journey, you never know where your art might take you.
Esther Siam is a former physics educator turned mom, children’s author, and illustrator. She loves wandering through nature, baking and crafting with her children, and weaving science, art, and nostalgia into hand-painted books filled with magic and warmth, often dreamed up over homemade sourdough, lemon cakes and freshly brewed coffee.
For more information, please visit Esther's website or follow her on instagram.
The late Victorian era when art, science and nature beautifully intertwined. Like Beatrix Potter and Maria Sibylla Merian, I dream of painting hundreds of mushrooms, insects and plants with soft, delicate watercolours.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
I’ve always loved quietly observing people and little details in life. As a child, I was always daydreaming and doodling in class, much to my teachers’ frustration! On my note, I'd draw a little creature peeking out from the equation or a little comic strip out a concept.
Though my family hoped I’d choose a more ‘practical’ path, art has always been my escape to cherish life’s small, beautiful moments.
Can you share a photo of your creative workspace or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
My desk is simple — a laptop, a sprig of lavender, a cup of coffee, watercolours, pencils, papers often mingled with my kids’ scattered bits and chaos. On cooler days, I love painting outside in the garden.
My desk is simple — a laptop, a sprig of lavender, a cup of coffee, watercolours, pencils, papers often mingled with my kids’ scattered bits and chaos. On cooler days, I love painting outside in the garden.
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What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
Finding inspiration and dreaming up characters. Once the sketches come alive, colouring them feels like filling in my own storybook pages.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Always create from the heart. Keep drawing, keep learning, there’s no right or wrong. Trust the journey, you never know where your art might take you.
Esther Siam is a former physics educator turned mom, children’s author, and illustrator. She loves wandering through nature, baking and crafting with her children, and weaving science, art, and nostalgia into hand-painted books filled with magic and warmth, often dreamed up over homemade sourdough, lemon cakes and freshly brewed coffee.
For more information, please visit Esther's website or follow her on instagram.
