Where Tough Topics
Meet Tender Hearts

Creative Educator | Author-illustrator | Self-publishing
(now trading under It Started With a Sloth Ltd)

Illustrations that turn "we need to talk" into "let's read together"

Collection of children's books with colorful illustrations about animals, nature, and stories, featuring a giraffe, a crab, and other characters.

Life throws some pretty big subjects at little people. Climate change. Anxiety. Loss. New experiences that feel scary. And let's be honest—sometimes adults don't quite know where to start either.

That's where I come in, armed with digital brushes and a belief that the right character can make any conversation possible.

What I Do (The Serious Bit, Told Unseriously)

I create colourful, character-led illustrations for picture books that tackle subjects grown-ups often find tricky to explain. Think whimsical worlds where anxious feelings become friendly monsters, where nature gets a personality transplant, and where big environmental topics shrink down to child-sized understanding—without shrinking the importance.

My illustrations don't shy away from reality, but they do invite hope along for the adventure.

Some Books I've Brought to Life

Colorful cartoon illustration featuring a bunny with large eyes peeking up from the bottom, topped with a purple sock on it's ear. Above, multicolored text reads "BUNNY BUNNY, you're so funny" with a blue background.

Colorful children's book cover titled 'Ellie the Crocodile and the Green, Sparkly Glasses' illustrated by Helen Hill, featuring a crocodile with large glasses and various pairs of glasses in bright colors.

7 book climate series

The first 3 picture books exploring energy, food, and circularity through stories that make sustainability feel less like homework and more like discovery. Because saving the planet should feel exciting, not exhausting.

Ellie the Crocodile Series

Following Ellie as she navigates first-time experiences like gymnastics and getting glasses. Because courage often wears spectacles and sometimes needs a leotard.

Cover of a book titled "This is JEEF" featuring a purple slime monster with big eyes and sneakers, surrounded by purple slime and dripping text, with additional text "My slimeball anxiety monster" and author credits for Gracie Barry and Helen Hill.

The Day the Crab Got Crabby

Our own tale proving that even nature has off days. Sometimes you just need to feel your feelings—even if you're a crustacean.

This is Jeff

Written by 9-year-old author Gracie, this book introduces Jeff—the anxiety monster who visits when things feel overwhelming. By giving worry a name (and a grumpy face), we made it much less scary.

See more about these below ⬇️

Portfolio examples

Cover of a children's book titled 'The day the crab got crabby' showing a yellow crab with a worried expression on sandy ocean floor with seaweed and coral, titled for ages 4-7, illustrated by Helen Hill. The inside pages show an underwater scene with a yellow crab sitting on a rock and completing a fill-in-the-blank template with blank circles and prompts about the crab's story.

Children's book illustration of underwater scene with colorful coral, sea creatures, and bright yellow crab and green sea anemone characters engaging in conversation about sea life.

Children's book titled "Ellie the Crocodile goes to gymnastics" with illustrated characters of a tiger, a pink pig, and a green crocodile on the cover.

An open children's book titled 'Ellie the Crocodile goes to gymnastics' with illustrated scenes of three animals in a rainy setting, including a crocodile, a pig, and a tiger.

Cover of a children's book titled "This is Jeff," illustrated with a purple slime monster with big teeth, mean eyes, and stubby arms, wearing black sneakers, with purple slime trailing behind. Inside, the book features the slime monster Jeff with annotations about his features, and a story about his anxiety and difficulty sleeping, with an illustration of a woman sleeping, tears on her face, and purple slime in the water.

Cover of a children's storybook titled 'The day the crab got crabby' by Sally Giblin, illustrated by Helen Hill. The cover features cartoon images of a crab and a sea anemone on a sandy ocean floor, with plastic trash floating and scattered in the water and on the ground. The background of the cover shows a blue sky with seagulls and a body of water.

Open children's book with colorful illustrated crocodile bouncing and jumping, featuring text about a fun trampoline activity.

Open children's book titled "What's that Noise?" by Sam M. Raif with illustrations by Helen Hill. Inside pages show a cartoon giraffe making a whooshing sound and a cartoon elephant and bear trying to identify a noise, with playful text and sounds like "WHOOOSH" and "SWOOSH."

My services

Colorful educational display with boxes featuring a 'What Am I?' matching game.

Creative education

I specialise in creating the design and concepts for fun interactive educational books, games, toolkits, and learning resources.

Steeped in storytelling, quirky characters, creative thinking, and positive mindset development, I love adding puns, humour and wit too if that’s your thing.

Children's book titled "Ellie the Crodile goes to gymnastics" by Emily Bardwell, illustrated by Helen Hill. The cover features a cartoon crocodile, a tiger, and a pink pig hanging upside down from monkey bars.

Book illustration

I am fascinated by how storytelling and information is transformed into captivating visuals and admittedly, I hero-worship book illustrators.

If you have a non-fiction or children’s book that needs illustrating (about the environment, animals, health, or well-being in particular), I’d love to chat with you about it.

Why UnlikelyGenius?

A digital illustration of a woman with long blonde hair, wearing a black jacket, sitting among lush tropical plants with various animals and flowers. The scene features a purple monkey hanging from a vine, a toucan with black, white, and yellow feathers sitting on a branch, a pink flamingo on the ground, white flowers with black centers, and other colorful foliage.

The name came from my previous creative incarnation, and honestly? It still fits.

There's something beautifully unlikely about how a well-drawn character can unlock conversations that seemed impossible five minutes ago.

I'm now folding UnlikelyGenius into my main venture, It Started With a Sloth, because running two businesses is about as sensible as teaching penguins to fly. But the mission remains the same: creating illustrations that bring hope to the gloom and craft easy pathways for adults to explore tough subjects with children—no fear required.

Let's Create Something Together

Whether you're an author with a manuscript that needs the perfect visual voice, or an organisation looking to communicate important messages to young audiences, I'd love to hear from you.

View Portfolio | Commission an Illustration

A lifetime of love, honest!

Despite evidence to the contrary (see the regularly rolled out evidence by my family, right) I have always adored books, and particularly children’s books. I read Watership Down independently before I even started primary school (that may also explain the rabbit obsession) and have barely stopped since. I still buy children’s books now, just for me, to study their illustrations, humour, and clever layouts.

For a long time, I’ve been harbouring a not-so-secret desire to see my illustrations on the bookshelf amongst my illus-idols Jon Klassen, Chris Haughton, Oliver Jeffers, Rachel Ignotofsky, Sandra Dieckmann, and the mighty duo and creators of ‘Bunnies on the Bus’ Philip Ardagh & Ben Mantel. If you haven’t yet read Dick the Delightful Duck by Kaye Umansky and Ben Mantle, what are you even doing with your life? Absolute genius.

I already have multiple books released for which I’m the illustrator AND my first solo book that I have both authored AND illustrated will be out in 2026. I also create associated resources and activity books.

A baby crib with toys including a pink plush doll and a yellow plush dog, with torn paper on the floor.

Where Tough Topics Meet Tender Hearts