Illustrator Emer O'Leary Studios Ltd.

I have been delivering graphics training in 2014 for trainers, facilitators, coaches and really anyone who uses a flipchart in their work!

'The OB Loch Eil Centre team were delighted to work with Emer O'Leary during our staff training week. Our mission was to explore how we could use simple graphics to enhance our practice with young people. The progress was fantastic and I will be excited to see the impact of this work.

The course with Emer gave us space to practice, experiment and play with a variety of approaches and styles. The images are of our staff content during the course.

A great day of considering and thinking about how we frame the OB experience and add quality into reviewing the learning. 🙏👏'

David Exeter, Head of Centre at Outward Bound Trust, Loch Eil Centre

  Aswell as my signature programme I also deliver training in the following areas, all with a hand drawn delivery style!

Emotional Intelligence | Coaching Skills | Train the Trainer | Communication Skills | Wellbeing and Stress Management | Assertiveness and Confidence Building | Stakeholder Management | Person Centred Planning |Social Model of Disability | Independent Living Movement

From focus groups to Team Away Days I bring energy, clarity and commitment to group facilitation experiences.

'Shakti Women’s Aid would highly recommend Emer for any team-building session or other staff day scenario. She made sure that our large group, with our many diverse opinions and backgrounds and skills, all felt that they were heard and valued. The exercises she gave our groups seemed unusual; they turned out to be fun, collaborative, and to highlight our strengths.'

Girijamba Polubothu

Chief Executive, Shakti Women's Aid

  A unique coaching programme.

Visualise the future you want and map out the plan to make it happen.

This can either be run:

· Self paced Online OR

· A combination of online modules and virtual live sessions

'Emer's infectious enthusiasm leaves me feeling inspired every time I do one of her courses. I recently attended her Draw out Your Future course. It was a fabulous six weeks.

I learned a lot, got to play about with drawings, and be supported and encouraged by an amazing group of like-minded individuals. Goals I never knew I had appeared from the sea of infinite possibilities! I did her Secrets of Simple Graphics course a couple of years ago and it changed the way I write, teach and train. She makes everything so fun and accessible. Just brilliant.'

Emily Bryson, ELT Materials Writer

'I enjoyed the course a lot, I think what I liked the most was the dynamic of it and how comfortable I felt openly speaking about my
feelings with the other attendees.
I learned many new ways to achieve my goals, and more specifically,
I will definitely use techniques such as the graphical action plans, since that has already served as an improvement towards my goals.

Other changes is to journal every day to keep track and be able to look back in the future.'

Roger Morato, Cyber Security Engineer, Baillie Gifford

 Add impact with simple hand drawn graphics.

Custom illustration (or 'studio work') is about creating hand drawn visuals custom to your needs. I first meet or speak with you to discuss your desired outcome, after which I create hand drawn illustrations in my studio, either small scale (usually for reports, blog posts) or large scale murals (for events, training). Sometimes both! All illustrations are hand drawn, either digitally or on large paper/flipcharts.
I love the process of extracting and distilling the information you give me to create visuals that are engaging, lively and easy to digest.

'A picture is better than a thousand words! Huge thanks Emer for your great work illustrating our community consultation on what wellbeing means to our people. Given only a short amount of time, a lot of data and probably a rather opaque brief, you have produced a series of illustrations that showcase the headline themes from our consultation. These simple but colourful images convey messages that actually have so much value in our community but in a way that is accessible to all and very powerful through their simplicity.

We have a montage of them hanging in our Café and they are becoming a really engaging talking point with visitors as they identify with the images. Using them in our reports means we can convey really important information clearly, concisely and with impact. We'll be back!'

Helene van der Ploeg, Enterprise Manager | Space & Broomhouse Hub

My career started working for disability organisations in the voluntary sector and as a result I often seek out projects in this field where I can add value. 

One such example is the Future Visions project I worked on for Glasgow Disability Alliance.   

This programme was all about giving disabled people an opportunity to reflect on their experience of the Self Directed Support Road Testers project, and to use this experience as a platform to drive change in their own lives and to influence and inspire others through sharing their stories. 

It consisted of a series of training and faciliation sessions culminating in a Champions event where participants took to the stage to share their voices.

Visual facilitation and illustration were used throughout:

- in the design of training materials to increase understanding and aid enagagement

- through the creation of illustrated posters that supported particpants when speaking about their experiences ('If I went blank I'd just look up at the poster and it'd help me remember. The picture of the rainbow was my favourite!')

- Illustrations were used in the final report 

'Part of our aims with the SDS Road Testers project was to provide accessible information about Self Directed Support to disabled people and also to share learning far and wise. Emer worked with us on our Champions project and by understanding the issues involved she produced some bespoke graphics for GDA which underline key messages about choice and control. This was also evidenced in the Mural for the 'My Choices: I Did it My Way' event  and the powerful images created for GDA were an excellent aide memoire to key messages and learning from the project.

Thank you Emer for encouraging and supporting the Champions to develop their roles, their stories and their voices and for the wonderful project art.'

Tressa Burke, CEO | Glasgow Disability Alliance