Lovely to meet you!

So What's PaperPaintPixels About?

I’m Carolyn Rouse, the illustrator and designer behind PaperPaintPixels, working from my studio in the Somerset countryside. It’s a calm, light-filled space where my desk is never quite clear — always scattered with sketchbooks, jars of brushes, and stacks of textured paper. My work blends paper, paint, and pixels — the name comes from the way I combine traditional materials with digital tools. I sketch and paint with gouache, coloured pencils, pastels, markers, and inks, then bring those ideas into my iMac. Sometimes the artwork begins and ends entirely in Procreate on my iPad; sometimes it’s a mix of both worlds, letting each stage add its own depth and character.

I began PaperPaintPixels with a clear first goal: to create art for the early years — those precious, formative years when a child’s mind is most open to the world. The images children grow up with can shape their way of seeing for a lifetime. I believe that if you can spark curiosity when they are young, that spark will stay with them — helping them to question, to explore, and to wonder. My prints are made to grow with a child: to be engaging at two years old, intriguing at seven, and still feel at home in their space as they move on to new adventures.

Sustainability runs through everything I make and send. In the studio, I work mainly on 100% recycled cotton rag paper, printing with Canon Pro Lucia archival inks for rich, lasting colour and a tactile, museum-quality finish. Prints are wrapped in FSC-certified tissue, packaged in recyclable or compostable materials, and wherever possible I reuse supplies that arrive with my deliveries. For customers outside the UK, I work with carefully chosen fine art printers local to them — reducing shipping miles, avoiding tariffs, and ensuring each print arrives quickly and in perfect condition.

My love for illustration began early, somewhere between the hours spent drawing at the kitchen table and my fascination with natural history museums. I was the child who wanted to know the names of things, who loved the texture of a field guide’s pages as much as the pictures inside. That curiosity has never left me.

Before PaperPaintPixels, I trained in textile design, earned an MSc in Computer Science, and spent many years as a graphic designer — working all over the world in the UK, the United States, and Canada, with clients ranging from small independents to global companies. Design is in my DNA, and those years honed my sense of composition, colour, and craft — all of which now find their way into my illustrations.

Today, my three children are grown or nearly grown, but the ideas that shaped PaperPaintPixels come from my years as a parent. I know the value of a quiet bedtime story, a shared moment over a picture, or the way a familiar image can anchor a child’s space. My hope is that my work plays a small part in creating those moments — and that it stays with you, in some way, as your family grows.

My love of the natural world drives my work and business and is at the heart of everything I do. I'm working towards using only recyclable, compostable and biodegradable packaging where possible and I'm dedicated to improving the sustainability of my business as I grow.

• The fine art cotton rag paper used is part of the Woodland Trust Carbon Capture Scheme. A percetange of the cost is used to plant trees.
• I use FSC Certified, acid free tissue paper to wrap all of my prints. 
• I use Kraft tape which is fully recyclable and free from animal products. 
• I use Biodegradable and Compostable cello bags which are made from vegetable starch.
•  The orders are packed in 100% recycled cardboard envelopes and boxes.
•  I try to repurpose packaging from our supplier deliveries and encourage our suppliers to go plastic free where possible.
• The only single use plastic I use in the packaging is the recycled plastic end caps of the tubes I package the prints in. I'm looking for a solution!