Darren Willans grew up in London and migrated to Perth with his family in 1983. Whilst always having a love of all things art, he worked for many years as a Signwriter for iconic Fremantle signwriting company Parnell Signs. Following formal study, he then turned his attention to pursue a career in graphic design and illustration. Darren now works as GM Creative at a growing digital marketing agency in Perth, Western Australia.

“Having many influences, from a conceptual level, Shaun Tan has been a great influence on my work. Tan said, “When words and pictures are put together they can produce something larger than the sum of its parts”. Aiming to bring these two elements together to make something magical is a constant driving factor in my work.“

Darren lives in the Fremantle area with his family and can often be found scribbling ideas at his favourite Freo coffee shop.