Saskia Schoenmaker (owner of Saskia Illustration) is a self-taught portrait artist specialising in the use of graphite pencil and gold leaf in her works. Saskia was born in Sydney, Australia and grew up in the town of Farnham, England from the ages of 7-12. 

Her creative inspiration is often drawn from the stunning and peaceful countryside that she grew up in, where her love for all animals started. Since a very young age, Saskia has been fascinated in capturing the human psyche in her works. In her High School Art Major Work she explored themes of human psyche through video and digital art. Similarly in her university Animation & VFX Honours Thesis she explored academic writings on Terror Management Theory through a special effects video piece, which won her the Honorary Screen Award and Industry Commendation. Her love of the representative qualities of gold leaf started here as it played a major role in her Honours work and experimentation. 

Saskia uses a combination of her love for animals and animal welfare, human psyche studies, and fascination with gold leaf to create her works featured here. 

Saskia works full time as a Graphic Designer and Animator and uses her spare time to create more high quality works for Saskia Illustration.