Illustrator, Author & Sketchnote Artist

Skip to my portfolio

About me, Sam Warburton

I'm a freelance Illustrator based in Derby (UK), specialising in sketchnotes and creating illustrated books for all ages.

My graphic-styled sketchnotes & visuals clearly communicate ideas to help Marketers, Business owners, Changemakers, and Authors share information in an engaging way that elevates their brand. With a passion for storytelling, my narrative-driven art style is warm with fabric-inspired textures. I love weaving together words and illustrations to tell stories that captivate audiences of all ages.

I'm proud to be the official Sketchnote Artist for The London Book Fair since 2023 and a TEDx speaker. I've worked with clients such as The British Library, WorkLife Central, Male Allies UK, Practical Inspiration Publishing, Maddison Press, and more.

When I’m not working as a freelance Illustrator, I'm a Content Creator for a wonderful company called Ad Esse. Whenever I put down my art tools, you can usually find me baking, drinking tea, or walking my dog (Daisy the Cairnoodle).

  • "Sam is a rare breed of professional. In addition to being an expert in her own area of design and content creation, she can also quickly comprehend and absorb the specialist areas she applies her core skills to. This makes her invaluable to work with. If you are lucky enough to work with Sam then don't constrain her creativity, let her run with a brief or idea and I guarantee you will get what you wanted, and more."

    Rhiannon Gibbs, Director at Ad Esse Consulting

  • "To capture the essence of 50,000 words in a neat visual is an art! Sam turned detail into simple and brought my book to life marvellously. Thank you!"

    Catherine Garrod, Author of Conscious Inclusion and Founder of Compelling Culture

  • "Working with Sam was an absolute joy! Her talent for capturing the essence of my book through a sketch note was truly remarkable. Not only did she bring my words to life in a creative and engaging way, the ease of collaboration also made the entire process seamless. I highly recommend Sam to anyone looking to visually enhance their content with a touch of brilliance."

    Susan Ni Chriodain, Author of Leading Beyond The Numbers

  • “It was such a pleasure to work with Sam. She listened carefully to our brief and asked pertinent questions at the start of the project. Then she quickly produced a fantastic sketch note for us, which looks great and summarises our content perfectly. We are looking forward to working with her again!”

    Anna Richards, Head of Brand, Communication & Marketing at WorkLife Central

  • "I had the pleasure of working with Sam for The London Book fair in 2023 when we tested out how Sam’s illustrations would work with the book world. I am thrilled to say they were a roaring success across all LBFs social channels and had a very high engagement rate, so much so that we are excited to work with Sam going forwards. Sam is great to work with, super talented and captured the essence of our messages and the fair perfectly."

    Sophie Gilligan, Marketing Manager at The London Book Fair

  • "Sam Warburton created a wonderful sketch note for my book, Don't Fix Women, and continues to sketch note episodes for my podcast, The Equality Conversation. She is incredible in her ability to distil a huge amount of content into such delightful visual images that are easy to digest and really highlight the takeaways. Sam is talented, creative and professional, and also lovely to work with. I wouldn't hesitate recommending her to others."

    Joy Burnford, Founder & CEO, Encompass Equality

  • "I'm so pleased with my sketch note. I love Sam's interpretation of The urnout Bible - it sums the book up perfectly and will really help me to market the book in the lead up to publication and beyond! I can't wait to see it on the big screen at my launch event!"

    Rachel Philpotts, Author and Clinical Director at re:Nutrition

  • "Working with Sam was incredibly easy - one short meeting and a copy of my book, and she was away doing her creative bit. She turned some quite complex ideas into simple images and key words. She has a knack of getting to the heart of the message and creating powerful images to convey it."

    Catherine Stothart, Leadership Coach and Author

  • "I absolutely LOVE the sketch note that Sam created for my book, Crafting Connection. Sam is very easy to work with. We had a short Zoom conversation, and a few days later she sent me artwork which perfectly captured the feel and key concepts of the book. Thank you!"

    Felicity Dwyer, Author of Crafting Connection: Transform how you communicate with yourself and others

  • “Sam has just produced a sketch note for my business, Heartfelt HR, and I love it. She has really captured the essence of my work and what I can do for clients - and she has even squeezed in my recently published book! Sam is a real pleasure to work with - one quick call to gather some information and she has produced something which is spot-on. She is brilliant at capturing the essence of the message and putting it over in a fun and friendly way.”

    Jill Aburrow, Author and Founder of Heartfelt HR

  • "We engaged Sam to produce a series of sketch notes for us on various IT-related business topics. Sam is so easy to work with! Friendly, professional and very creative. The work Sam has produced for us is top-notch, and we're really happy with our partnership. I'd highly recommend that anybody who is looking for a boost in their content creation speak with Sam!"

    Richard Tubb, The IT Business Growth Expert

  • “You did such an amazing job distilling 45 minutes of content and questions into a concise and accessible format, thank you!”

    Anita Cleare, Director of Positive Parenting Project

  • “I recently hired Sam to create a sketch note for a working parents webinar I hosted. Not only did she create a fantastic visual that I can use to build awareness and interest in this important topic but her ability to condense a 45-minute conversation into something visually impactful and meaningful is impressive!”

    Nicky Lowe, Founder of Wisdom For Working Mums

  • “Sam beautifully captured my special book launch WorkJoy Jam podcast, guest hosted by Simon Arrowsmith. I love how she’s taken nearly an hour of chat, added amazing graphics and whittled it down into one simple page. It was a total WorkJoy moment seeing it all come together. It also features the ruby slippers and a dog – what else could I ask for? "

    Beth Stallwood, Author and Founder of Create WorkJoy

  • “I’m sharing this wonderful sketch note of the episode for you to keep as an aide memoir of everything we discussed. Shout out to the talented Sam Warburton who produced this artwork – thank you!”

    Nadia Nagamootoo, Founder & CEO of Avenir Consulting and host of Why Care? podcast

  • “Love this! Wow! Thank you so much Sam! It’s lovely to see the book as you see it and I hope you enjoyed the read.” “This is the centre of a brand-new sketch-note summary of my *Making Workshops Book* by the wonderful Sam Warburton! She read my book and then drew up her own visual summary using simple graphics, which people will know I'm really keen on. What a treat to see my own book through someone else's eyes, and so beautifully done too!”

    Penny Pullan, Author and Founder of Making Projects Work

  • "Sam, whose visual thinking is off the chart! Thank you for my amazing sketch note!”

    Alison Jones, Author of Exploratory Writing and Founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing

  • "A huge shoutout to Sam Warburton who has sketched out my business and this has just added to my brand assets. I had seen some of her other AMAZING work and wanted to visually display what I do and I think this hits the spot."

    Alex Hughes, Founder of Auxilium Business Consulting

  • "Struggle has a deliberately flexible structure, designed to be one of those books you can pick up and open at any page and take in something thought-provoking and hope-giving. So when I commissioned Sam Warburton to create a sketch note, I did wonder how she might structure it! I think she’s done a marvellous job!"

    Grace Marshall, Author, Head Coach, Chief Encourager and Productivity Ninja

  • "A wonderful handout Sam Warburton sketched to accompany the workshop. Thank you, Sam! I'm excited to share your gorgeous work with participants."

    Deb Mashek, Author and Founder of Myco Consulting

  • "Thank you Sam, this is excellent, I’m always so impressed how you manage to capture everything!"

    Marketing Manager

  • "Love this sketch note of our recent talk with Reebok founder Joe Foster, from the very talented Sam Warburton. I came across Sam's work on Instagram and was so impressed at how she summarised webinar notes in such a visual way."

    Carly Hearn, Event Manager at Lincoln West

  • "Check out this fabulous sketch note that Sam Warburton created during a live online event last week! What a super way to remember an event! I'll definitely be recommending Sam for events ongoing!"

    Joe Foster, Reebok Founder

  • "We engaged Sam to produce a series of sketch notes for us on various IT-related business topics. Sam is so easy to work with! Friendly, professional and very creative. The work Sam has produced for us is top-notch, and we're really happy with our partnership. I'd highly recommend that anybody who is looking for a boost in their content creation speak with Sam! We engaged Sam to produce a series of sketch notes for us on various IT-related business topics. Sam is so easy to work with! Friendly, professional and very creative. The work Sam has produced for us is top-notch, and we're really happy with our partnership. I'd highly recommend that anybody who is looking for a boost in their content creation speak with Sam!"

    Richard Tubb, The IT Business Growth Expert

  • "Sam has created the illustrations for my forthcoming book, ChangeStories, and it has been such a pleasure working with her. She understood what I was trying to create and transformed my thoughts and words into the most beautiful pictures. She was able to make sense of the various ideas that I had and create a cohesive set of images that enhance the words that I had written but also convey the feeling that I wanted to give readers as they read the book. I really cannot thank Sam enough for her support and inspiration as I embarked on the writing process for the first time. She is an absolute joy to work with and I am looking forward to working with her again as the launch date for the book gets closer."

    Dr Susanne Evans, Author of Change Stories and Founder of Feldspar Consulting

  • "I wanted to say a massive thank you to Sam for bringing my ideas to life. Sam is a wonderful person and great to work with. A great eye for detail, listens to the story that needs to be told and makes magic come to life on paper. I truly appreciate all the work Sam has done for me and my friends. A lovely person to work with and will be fondly watching on her wonderful creations for everyone she meets."

    Akua Opong, Senior EUC Engineer at The London Stock Exchange (LSEG)

  • "Loving your work for The London Book Fair. I was an agent for years in Children's Publishing so love a visual. You have humanized the fair, which can sometimes feel a little bleak."

    Anonymous

  • "It was so brilliant working with you. Thank you for making sense of my thoughts and words and turning them into such wonderful illustrations!"

    Dr Susanne Evans

  • "Today, I got to see the first draft from the amazing infographic artist, Sam Warburton, and I have spent hours basically drooling over it. It's a truly remarkable feat of art, craft, and design and I can't wait to share."

    Dan Holloway

  • "It always amazes me how I can waffle at you about something that is just whirling round in my head and then a few hours later, you've articulated it perfectly through imagery!"

    Rebecca Mitchard, Consultant at Ad Esse Consulting

  • "Sam is awesome! She turned my scruffy sketches into clear, cohesive and simple illustrations for my website. Our co-creation process worked well, and I’ll be looking for ways to ask for Sam’s support with future projects. Thank you, Sam!"

    Catherine Weetman, circular economy author, speaker and podcaster

Watch my TedX Talk

Everyday art: Pencilling in moments of creativity

Watch now

arTEA break

A monthly email with a drawing session for wellbeing

Subscribe now

The London Book Fair

I’m the official Sketchnote Artist - woohoo!

See all past sketchnotes