Artists and Illustrators for Education - Volunteer

Looking for artists and illustrators with links to education to help illustrate our 'Enrichment Kits', which will be used to replace damaging cover lessons in disadvantaged schools. We're looking for anyone interested in drawing for us, from characters to diagrams. Our kits are AI-free.

What difference will you make?

UpCover is pre-revenue at the moment. We're in an exciting stage of testing our kits to see if we've guessed right that vibrant, engaging and visually striking learning opportunities will make lessons feel valuable, improving behaviour and learning.

While we're confident that this hypothesis will hold true in some form, we're still researching what exactly optimizes pupil learning and engagement in the challenging format of a cover lesson. Is it the content of the lesson itself? Is it striking graphic design that makes the work feel special? Is it the chance to make something with their hands? The weight of the paper? The accessibility of the illustrations?

Likely, we'll find out that it's a combination of all of these things, but if we find a formulae that works, we could have the chance to transform cover lessons for millions of students. For disadvantaged students, who suffer the most when their main teacher is absent, this could be particularly powerful.

Our Enrichment Kits are more than just fancy worksheets they are a vehicle to revolutionise the way schools handle teacher absence in secondary education.

What are we looking for?

We're looking for anyone with skills in art and illustration who finds the idea behind our work inspiring. Please get in touch if this is you.

Additionally, graphic designers with a background in creating educational resources could be an enormous help. We already have a talented graphic designer, but he does not have a background in education so an extra pair of eyes could be invaluable.

Any current or former teachers, particularly secondary school, who are interested in the project would be very welcome to get in touch.

Remote

What will you be doing?

UpCover is a brand new not-for-profit aiming to replace cover lessons in disadvantaged secondary schools with enriching opportunities.

We are creating Enrichment Kits across a wide range of subjects, which schools will be able to deliver with their own staff or external supply. We offer carefully crafted, vetted and tested lesson kits that fulfill enrichment aims.They include A3 double-sided colour worksheets, a lesson plan, extra support sheets, extension activities and props.

Our kits will beautifully presented with professional design and print. They are AI-free and illustrated using public domain images, art from school pupils and illustrators.

You will be working alongside our graphic designer to help make the main A3 worksheets in our first ever kits feel special. This might involve drawing anything from little icons, to small characters, to random objects (one kit desperately needs an illustration of a pot of potatoes with eyes!) So far, we have Enrichment Kits on Gratitude where students make a thank you card, and two English Literature kits on Personification and Symbolism.

In terms of style, we aim to eventually incorporate artwork from pupils into our kits, so we're looking for something fairly informal, almost like a 'doodle' style. This will be juxtaposed with some breathtakingly beautiful art from the public domain.