Help us create a bank of watercolour illustrations or, hand-painted images for our website, emails and social. We support people who are dying, so photography isn't appropriate. Were looking for illustrations that reflect bedside companionship, holding hands, hospital buildings and no faces.
What difference will you make?
These illustrations will help us communicate our work in a way that's truthful, respectful, and usable.
The Anne Robson Trust supports people who are dying, and the families and friends around them. We work alongside healthcare organisations, helping them introduce or strengthen volunteer companionship services so that more people have a calming presence at the bedside, especially in the final days and hours of life. Because of the sensitivity of this work, photography is often not possible or appropriate. That creates a real challenge for our communications we need to show what we do, but we must do it in a way that protects dignity and privacy.
By creating a small bank of consistent, hand-painted illustrations, you'll give us a way to show the heart of our work without relying on real-life images. Your artwork will bring warmth and humanity to key parts of our website and support hub, helping visitors understand quickly what bedside companionship looks and feels like.
For many people, arriving on our website happens at a difficult moment, when someone they love is dying or they're trying to make sense of what comes next. Gentle, sensitive visuals can make our information feel more approachable and less clinical, helping people stay on the page, take in guidance, and feel less alone.
Your work will also strengthen how we speak to supporters, donors, and potential healthcare partners. Having high-quality, consistent assets means we can share clearer messages on social media and in email updates, without using generic stock photography that can feel out of place or emotionally tone-deaf. It will help us tell our story with more care and clarity, and support trust in our charity and our cause.
Longer term, this illustration bank will become a reusable set of core assets we can build from, saving time and helping us keep our branding consistent. It will allow us to create new webpages, resources and campaigns more efficiently, while staying aligned with the sensitivity of death and dying.
In short your illustrations will help more people understand our work, feel supported by our resources, and help us reach the audiences who can make bedside companionship available to more people when it matters most.
What are we looking for?
A clear, consistent illustration style You can create a "family" of images that look like they belong together. We're specifically looking for a hand-painted/watercolour feel, with visible texture and imperfection, rather than anything that looks flat, vector-based or overly digital.
Sensitivity and emotional intelligence You're comfortable working around themes of death and dying and can hold them with care. You understand that small choices (expression, posture, lighting) can change the emotional meaning of an image.
Ability to work from a brief and references We'll share example images and a colour palette. You can follow this direction closely while still bringing your own skill and creativity.
Openness to feedback You're happy to share drafts, iterate, and make refinements so the final set feels right. You don't take feedback personally, and you can also explain your creative decisions when helpful.
Reliability and clear communication You can agree realistic timelines, keep us updated, and deliver what's needed without lots of chasing.
Experience
Creating illustration sets for brands or organisations (even small projects or a personal portfolio is fine), especially where consistency across multiple assets matters.
Illustrating people in a respectful, non-literal way, for example using minimal facial detail, body language, and composition to show connection and comfort.
Healthcare, charity, or "sensitive subject" work not essential, but a bonus if you've illustrated topics like illness, grief, ageing, disability, care, mental health, or other emotionally complex themes.
Digital delivery for comms teams You're comfortable supplying final artwork in formats that work across platforms (e.g., PNG/JPG, scalable options if relevant), with high-res versions where needed. If you can also provide layered/source files for future tweaks, that's a plus (but not required).
Style Considerations (so You Know What We Mean)
No visible faces or identifiable features
Warm, gentle tone and colours
Minimal or no medical equipment
Calm hospital environments (corridors/wards/exterior), focused on presence rather than clinical detail
If you have a portfolio link that shows watercolour or hand-painted figures (even sketches or personal work), that's the best way for us to get a feel for fit.
What will you be doing?
We're looking for an illustrator to help us create a small bank of consistent, watercolour (or hand-painted) illustrations that we can use across our website, social media and emails.
Because our work supports people who are dying in hospitals and other healthcare settings, photography is often not possible or appropriate. Illustration allows us to show the comfort, presence and quiet humanity of what happens at the bedside, without showing real patients or families.
Your main focus will be to develop a set of illustrations in a defined style, based on examples we will share. We're looking for a handmade, painted feel (not overly digital or "vector"), with gentle, calm tones and no visible faces. The aim is to create a cohesive "family" of images so everything looks like it belongs together across our communications.
Key deliverables will include
A set of bedside companionship scenes (for example a volunteer sitting beside a bed, holding a hand, sitting quietly nearby)
A small selection of healthcare setting visuals (such as a hospital corridor/ward, and a simple hospital exterior)
Optional smaller "supporting" assets that work as digital accents (for example a butterfly motif, subtle florals, or simple abstract shapes in the same painted style)
You'll work closely with our Marketing Manager, who will provide clear guidance, reference images, and feedback at agreed check-in points. We're keen for this to feel collaborative and manageable we'll confirm the look and direction early, then build the bank steadily with light-touch feedback as each illustration develops.
At the end, we'll need final files supplied in web-ready formats, with high-resolution versions where helpful, so we can use them across different platforms and layouts.