Hello! I’m Alexandra Snowdon, an illustrator and hand lettering artist based in Edinburgh. I’m originally from the North West of England, I came to Edinburgh to celebrate my 50th birthday and before the first day was over I had decided I had to live here. That was almost 8 years ago and I’ve never looked back. I love living in Scotland and honestly, it doesn’t rain nearly as much as everyone thinks it does.
I was a graphic designer for over 20 years in and around Manchester but I always really wanted to be a self employed illustrator. When I was in my late thirties I went travelling for a year and realised I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in an office. I decided I would do everything I could when I got back home to start living life on my own terms.
A few years after returning to the UK I’d fulfilled my dream of working for myself. Self employed life has been a roller coaster of highs and lows but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d encourage anyone to follow their dreams as if their life depended on it because in a lot of ways it really does.
I fell in love with printmaking at art college and my husband Charlie rigged up a dark room for us in our loft at home. At one point we were both printing our own tee shirts, cards, tote bags and art prints from home. It was a fun and busy time but there wasn’t a room in the house that didn’t have printing screens piled up against the wall. Eventually I got more into lino cuts (they take up a lot less space around the house). I love the tactile, slightly wonky feel of hand pulled prints with all the little human flaws it contains and that feels even more precious in today’s increasingly digitised world.
My work includes a lot of hand lettering and I love to convey positivity and encouragement through my art so I was really pleased when Printed By Us got in touch in 2020 to ask me to design a print for them. Their whole ethos of helping people overcome difficult circumstances and grow in confidence is just the kind of thing I love to get involved with and it was an absolute pleasure to work with them. I created the hand lettered print ‘Turn your setbacks into comebacks’. It’s one of my favourite quotes because sometimes when times are really hard, it can feel like things will always be that way and there’s no way out but we’re often stronger than we think and the toughest of times can sometimes end up being the making of us.
Alexandra Snowdon - Hand Lettering & Illustration
