Hello!

I’m Annette M. Russell, and Nut and Bee is my brand of sweet character goods.

My designs feature animals and nature and snacks and naps, and I love coming up with new illustrations regularly. I hope when you see and use Nut and Bee products they make a happy moment in your day!

Nut and Bee is a one-woman company, but I’m kept company while I work by my baby daughter Willow and mischievous cats Monty and Pippin, and I’m always bouncing ideas off my handsome husband JSR.

Nut and Bee History

The idea for Nut and Bee came together from two of my interests – drawing and kawaii character goods.

I started drawing when I was in University, filling the margins of my lecture notes with monkeys and squirrels and kittens. (I’d been creative as a child as well, but channeled it into embroidery and other tactile crafts rather than illustration.) When I posted my drawings online they received a good response, so in late 2005 I began to think about taking them beyond idle doodles.

I’d collected and loved kawaii character goods like lettersets and stickers for many years, and paper stationery seemed a great fit for my style of artwork – so I sourced some equipment and raw materials, designed my first few products, and developed a basic web site. Ta da! Nut and Bee was born!

Gradually my sales grew, and it became very difficult to keep up with Nut and Bee and my day job as a library assistant, so in 2008 I resigned from that job and went full time with Nut and Bee.

Since then the business has continued to grow and develop, and I’ve introduced several new products and many, many designs. Nut and Bee designs are inherently limited edition, as I tend to only make one print run of each (unless it’s super super popular, like Where Rainbows Come From, which I don’t think I’ll ever retire). Occasionally I make one-off pieces such as amigurumi crochet creatures or little clay sculptures as well, but they are very much subject to spare time and my whims!

As well as selling from this website I list a selection of my products on Etsy and have some lovely stockists online, in New Zealand and in Australia.

It’s so exciting to be self-employed, and now I’m a Mum it’s great to be able to stay at home with Willow every day and still keep working. I hope to be doing this for a very long time!

Contact

If you have any questions or comments please send me an email! I’d love to hear from you.

If you would like to post something, the address is:
Nut and Bee
PO Box 7222
Wellesley St
Auckland 1141
New Zealand

Art Process

I like the feeling of drawing on paper, and the clean results of digital artwork, so my process for creating the Nut and Bee illustrations uses elements of both methods. I begin by sketching with pencil in a sketchbook or on loose paper, and ink with fine point black pens. I use a few brands, particularly Artline Drawing System and Staedtler Pigment Liners. Then I scan the drawing, and use Photoshop to clean up any mistakes and apply colour.

This post from August 2010 shows a step-by-step demonstration of my Photoshop techniques using a lil’ hot dog illustration :D

Custom Work

I’m sorry, but at this time I am not taking on any new custom projects.

If you would like to licence one of my existing designs, either for commercial purposes (e.g. producing t-shirts) or a personal project (e.g. your wedding invitations), please get in touch with the details and we can chat about it :)

Press

I’m always happy to answer interview questions for magazines, newspapers and blogs. Just send me an email!