Hello!

Live event illustrator Scotland
A notebook, pen, and loose papers with scribbles on a table.

I’m so glad you found me and my illustration work. I am a live event illustrator and illustrator of academic/educational subjects.

I have been illustrating websites, books and making my rounds live illustrating conferences, workshops and summits since 2020. Previously I worked in art education and created artworks that found their way into various art museums and galleries around the UK. I still teach the occasional art class to children and adults as I feel that drawing for the fun of drawing is a joy that many people want to tap into.

Yellow comic-style explosion shape with black outline.
Live illustrator Glasgow

I love working with people. Making genuine connections and showing that a person’s words are valued is what I enjoy most about my live illustration work.

One of my recent client’s shared this with me:

“Cassandra was amazing to work with right from the first call. Cassandra’s ability to capture the essence of the attendees ideas with creativity and clarity was truly impressive. Her contributions helped make the event a resounding success, and her professionalism and dedication were apparent in every detail…Plus, she is a really warm and kind person…who doesn’t like working with people like that”

Thanks, Hinal from The Kings Fund

PREVIOUS CLIENTS

  • Black rectangle in the center of a white background.

  • Black Timberland logo with a tree inside a circle

  • Logo of Edinburgh International Festival with black text and design on white background.

  • The FedEx logo with black and purple text and a concealed arrow in the 'X'.

  • Logo for The Kings Fund with black text and a triangular shape at the end.

  • Logo with the words "research in practice" in red and blue text on a white background.

  • Colorful overlapping circles surrounding the text "Scottish Borders Chamber of Commerce" and "Scottish Borders".

  • South Scotland Enterprise logo with stylized 'S' and 'S' in shades of blue and purple

  • Logo for The Melting Pot featuring geometric shapes and bold text.

  • University of Birmingham logo with shield emblem and text.

  • A circular emblem with a red background, featuring an open book, a pen, a pinecone, and a blue and white geometric design.

Illustrator of People and Places

My main skills show up in my live illustration work. I can process information quickly then draw the information that makes it accessible and fun for the viewer. This is balanced out by the fact I’m hopeless at baking. No other grouping of words brings a shudder to my soul more than ‘Hey parents! It’s bake sale time!!’

Speech bubble with orange background and pink handwritten text that says, "I'm here to draw the people and conversation."

    • Prompt and clear communication

    • Getting clear on the aims of your project and who you are trying to reach

    • Clear timelines and a professional finish

    • A warm and upbeat interaction with someone who wants everyone involved to feel like they're winning

    • Graduate with Honours from a liberal arts school

    • Association of Illustrators Member

    • Golden Pencils participant and student of The Good Ship Illustration Business Course

Cassandra Harrison creating a hand-drawn live event illustration
Illustration of a pink pencil with a yellow eraser and a white pencil tip.
Cassandra Harrison screen-printing her illustrations

ITV News Feature

Timberland Activation

As seen on…

  • ITV news broadcasting a business and AI event in the Scottish Borders (2025)

  • Timberland shop activation printing my t-shirt design with the public (2023)

  • Edinburgh Art Book by Emma Benet (2019)

  • BBC series about architects -  snippets of my fine artwork seen in the David Blaikie office (2013)

  • The List - featured artist in 2013

  • ‘Having Cassandra live scribing our community workshops was a crucial element to our success on the day. Her illustrations helped our participants see, in real time, the contributions they were making to our project, and she really helped us create a fun and collaborative atmosphere. As facilitators, we were left with remarkable evidence of our public engagement, and a really useful account of the work we’d done. I’d strongly recommend her to academic colleagues with public engagement and impact projects; I’ll always be including live scribing costs in future grant applications.’

    Toria Johnson

  • “Cassandra was wonderful to work with. Her creativity and attention to detail inspired me. Her input into my project was invaluable.”

    Claire Stott, author and PSA

  • "Your illustration is a beautiful memento of the day and was a helpful visual prompt for the wrap up conversation with the young participants."

    K.D (Edinburgh International Festival)

  • "Cassandra is extremely dedicated, talented and a great communicator. The final illustrations were beautiful and powerful. They drew on and synthesised a substantial text and will be a fantastic dissemination tool beyond this. Thank you again for everything - I hope we can work together again!"

    Lara Santos Ayllon, Researcher, Edinburgh University

FAQs

Hand-drawn illustrator Edinburgh

  • I do both!  It often depends on the arrangement of the room or rooms in which your event will be taking place. Some spaces are best for hand-drawn images, other rooms are long and narrow and dark, most often used for large conferences and events.  We will discuss your requirements for the day and work from there.

  • I’m so glad you asked. Although digital pieces do not use paper, they do use energy.  The digital images are hanging out on a server which uses energy and creates heat to run.

    Paper drawn images can be saved, framed, displayed, used to jazz up your office or pinned onto the breakroom wall. 

  • Yes! Let’s run through tech requirements and ensure we are ready for the day. We will do a tech run before the event to make sure our connections are good. My ipad screen can be connected to your Zoom or other favourite platform for the event. There is always a tech person handy at these events so you can ask them to focus on my work during the event, or you can ask them to hide my screen to show other speaker information. 

  • My job is to listen to the conversation and look for the key concepts. I listen out for emphasis on specific terms and also follow your very helpful agenda which is like a map for me to see where the topics are heading for the event.  I always prep beforehand.  If you want to share specific information with me before the day, I happily invite you to do so.

  • Another brilliant question.  Digital images can be used to add colour and interest to text heavy reports.  Images can be used for flyers, thank you notes, on websites, social media, printed onto tea towels, onto cards, mugs, birthday cakes, the list is as long as your imagination is broad.

  • Prices start at £650 for all projects. Live Illustration pricing starts at £650 for up to 3 hours then will increase from there. Please keep in mind that the work begins way before I show up to illustrate the event.  There are emails, contracts, licensing and tech requirements to plan before the event. I also research the information so I understand the topic to be illustrated.

    Other projects, such as academic research illustrations, will need to be discussed individually. Do you need these for your phd thesis, reports or a workshop? 

  • Ha! I’m so glad you asked.  Although I do love cats, I currently have a super fabulous and slightly bonkers Labrador named Astro.  He loves long walks on the beach, chasing a ball and playing with is brothers at the local park. We named him Astro as we have a fascination with many things Space and Retro in this household.  For fun we like to find constellations in the clear sky at night.

Cute illustration of a dog