About

After a first short career in Musical Theatre I hung up my tights and tap shoes and studied Art History + Comparative Religion at The University of Toronto. After graduating I went back to my first love: visual art and dove into the world of illustration + art. Eric Mutrie of Design Lines has described my style as “combining a storybook illustrator’s sense of whimsy with a fashion designer’s sense of style" - and to that I say…. Why Thank You Eric! :-) I’ve worked for editorial, design + advertising clients and my images have appeared on many surfaces including wallpaper, greeting cards, dinner plates, + postage stamps.

My client list includes:

Editorial: The New York Times, Forbes Tokyo, Style Advisor, LA Weekly, The Atlantic, Elle magazine, Real Simple, Porter Airlines, Bon Appetit, InStyle magazine, The Smithsonian, The Globe + Mail, Chicago Tribune, National Post, Wall St. Journal, Vogue Japan, Better Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine, Canadian Living, Wedding Bells, Zoomer, Best Health, Literary Review of Canada, Food + Drink.

Design: Google, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Hollace Cluny, Four Seasons Hotel, Neiman Marcus, The Toronto Symphony, Ritz Carlton, Quadreal Properties, Oxford Properties, Good Egg, Canada Post, Pivot Design, Rollout, The Gardiner Museum, Beverly Willshire Hotel, 52 Pick up, SOAK Wash, LCBO, Brooks Brothers, Sali Tabacchi, Viva and Co.

Book Publishing: Penguin/Random House UK, Ireland, USA, and Canada, Simon + Schuster, Harper Collins, Harcourt Brace, Little Brown + Co, Chronicle Books, Key Porter Books.

Art Licensing: Tattly, Crane stationery, Papyrus, The Hudson’s Bay, Cloud Nine fabrics, One Kings Lane, teNeues stationery, Urban Graphic, Type Books

Advertising: Publicis, VISA, Leo Burnett, Blammo, Dentsu, Arnold Worldwide, Air New Zealand

My silkscreen prints are a favourite amongst Interior Designers and have been featured in Apartment Therapy, Canadian House + Home, Covet Garden, Chatelaine, and Design Lines.

Role Models: Saul Steinberg, Maria Bamford, Lotta Jansdotter, Greta Gerwig, Jenna Lyons, Lin Manuel Miranda, Miroslav Sasek, Tomi Ungerer, Phoebe Waller Bridge, Saul Bass, Denyse Schmidt, Paul Rand, Tina Fey, Elana Glazer, Founders of Paperless Post Alexa + James Hirschfeld , Founder of Lingua Franca Rachelle McPherson and Ina Garten.

Favourite Things: Vintage watches, Dinner parties, Stephen Sondheim musicals, plants, plants, plants, Kilm rugs, Used bookshops, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, How I Built This with Guy Raz, Folk art + Puppets!, My Partner Myles, (yes corny) Clothes with pockets (always!), the words bedazzled, aplomb + gravitas - and celebrating the end of the week with Friday Cocktails at 6pm. :-)

Recent Work: My illustrations created with Publicis for a City of Toronto campaign can now be found thorough out the city. Recently I collaborated with The Gardiner Museum on a Tote bag to celebrate their 40th Anniversary.

Want to collaborate or just say hi? Send me a note: alanna(at)alannacavanagh(dot)com

To see my press Click here.