About Ellie Foster

Struggling with the more “right brain” subjects, I began drawing out complex ideas, breaking them into structured mind maps, with illustrations my brain recalled with glee (along with all the accompanying information)! My grades jumped from barely passing some subjects to solid results, unknowingly through graphic recording.

Fast forward a few years, I had an Art Foundation Diploma from Glamorgan Centre for Art and Design (where I also found a sweet boy who’s now my husband, but that’s another story…) and a BA Hons in Animation Design from De Montfort University. Somewhere along the way, I’d completely forgotten about visual thinking as a way of making sense of the world, let alone as a career.

After a series of rejections for unpaid internships, I lost my creative spark altogether for years. I wandered from one uninspiring non-creative job to another until one evening, in a fit of office-politics-induced panic, clicked a recruitment advert to be cabin crew for Virgin Atlantic. That weeknight meltdown turned out to be my direct ticket to the most exciting years of my life.

I’ll spare you the stories, but what matters is that this chapter gave me the confidence and headspace (helped by generous layovers and properly protected rest days) to rekindle my creativity. It also placed me in London, where so many of my clients and events are now.

When I thought I was ready (narrator: “she was not ready”) I quit and I ping-ponged from one creative endeavour to another: prop building, event styling, illustrating and designing wedding stationary... I eventually freelanced in Graphic Design, which led to becoming FREEDA Media’s in-house Illustrator.

That project became a turning point: two years later, Purpose Disruptors had remembered my bold visual style and asked me to live illustrate for their upcoming climate action summit.

At first unsure, I spoke honestly with the team, explaining I had never drawn live, and was new to the concept of Graphic Recording. They trusted me and hired me anyway.

I turned up to the venue as guests filled the room, and connected my iPad to the big screen. The first speaker stepped on stage.

[deep breath…]

This next bit feels quite dramatic to say, but if you’re still with me now, I’ll assume you’re interested in the real reason I care so deeply about this work.

In an explosion of all my skills and experiences colliding, my hand knew what to do, my nerves disappeared and my brain went quiet. I was giddy and totally zen all at once, feeling everything I’d ever been good at clicking into place, and the soul-soothe of finding a calling: helping people understand important ideas and information, making it feel accessible, actionable… and beautiful! And in these times where misinformation travels faster than fact, and we’re trying to reach audiences with ever decreasing attention-spans, knowing how to organise information in a way that makes both our eyes and brains happy? It felt like a superpower to use for good.

I was all in. I overhauled my website, centring my entire practice around Graphic Recording.

Now, you’ll find me illustrating at events, often at the intersection of climate and community, as well as creating infographics from my home studio.

I like to scatter some lighter projects throughout, like creating visual summaries for podcasts and articles, and fun charity events.

With recent highlights including Women, Faith and Climate Network’s Global Ethical Stocktake for COP30 in Italy, and helping researchers at Central St George’s, University of London publish their community engagement findings, I’m excited to see what’s next in 2026.

If you have an upcoming event, or some written/spoken material you’d like to talk about, let’s chat. I love to talk about how we can use visual summaries to get the key themes across, sparking interest and engagement, as well as hear your ideas.