Dr Vassiliki Tzomaka

Vassiliki Tzomaka is an interdisciplinary artist, with over 20 years of in-house and studio experience in visual communication and marketing. She completed her MA in Art, Design and the Book at Colchester School of Art in 2010 and has worked as a freelance designer, illustrator and marketeer since then. In 2017 she successfully completed a PhD in Children’s Picturebook Illustration at ARU’s Cambridge School of Art, investigating the role of narrative in non-fiction picturebooks.

Vassiliki developed the practical outcome of her PhD research into the 'Extreme Environments’ picturebook series published by Thames and Hudson. Her books combine graphic illustrations with scientific facts to playfully introduce young readers to some the world’s most remarkable biodiversity. Her first book in the 'Extreme Environments' series, Hoot and Howl Across the Desert (2020), was selected by the Reading Agency and WWF for the Summer Reading Challenge 2021, a national initiative to promote reading and learning to children. In 2022 it was also chosen by the UN Sustainable Development Goals committee as a recommended book for children to understand the importance of SDG15: Life on Land.

Before joining the University of Suffolk in 2021, Vassiliki taught on a number of degrees at ARU, including the MA in Children’s Book Illustration, and on UAL’s Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Colchester School of Art. She has been a visiting lecturer for the MA in Illustration at University for the Creative Arts and an external examiner for doctoral research in Children’s Book Illustration for ARU.