Unwrapping Emily Sutton’s design for The Railway Children Return Gift Box

When we planned our limited-edition gift box to accompany the new film The Railway Children Return, we knew we wanted a design filled with classic excitement and delicious adventure. Luckily, we knew just the person to create it.

We’ve been proud to feature the delightful work of York artist Emily Sutton on Bettys products for several years now. Hand-drawn with pen and ink then painted in watercolour, Emily’s illustrations have graced everything from biscuit boxes and cake tins to the menus in our Café Tea Rooms and we just love how her style complements the Bettys love of craft.

With their beautiful details and charmingly intriguing characters, Emily’s illustrations are greatly inspired by the golden age of 20th-century children’s books. So who better to evoke the timeless experience of a steam train trip through beautiful Yorkshire countryside? We spoke to Emily to discover some of her creative secrets.

What was your initial thought process when you were asked to design the box?

I was very excited to work on this project. The original Railway Children film is such a childhood classic and I wanted to evoke that feeling of nostalgia in my illustrations for the box. The first step was a collaborative discussion between Studio Canal, the design team at Bettys and I about key imagery to be included, then I set out making several pencil roughs before eventually moving on to create the finished artworks.

What inspirations did you take from the film when creating the gift box artwork?

I wasn’t able to watch the full film before doing my illustrations as it was so long before the release date and therefore top secret. I was, however, lucky to get a sneak preview of the trailer and some selected stills. This gave me an insight into how the beautiful Yorkshire landscape and all of its flora and fauna were at the forefront of the action, which I wanted to reflect in the scenery of my painting.

Obviously the iconic stream train had to be the focal point of the image and for this I did research on the trains of that time period. As well as looking directly to the film for visual inspiration, I revisited the work of some of my favourite mid-century artists and illustrators, in particular Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden.

How has this project differed from others you have worked on?

It was fun and interesting working with a film studio. There were a few extra factors that had to be taken into account in the design process that I wouldn’t normally have considered: for example, I had to keep the main characters of the film quite understated, so as not to reveal anything about the plot!

What techniques did you use when creating the artwork?

To create the final artworks I used a combination of watercolour; pen and ink and coloured pencil, and some mono printing using card and fabric for interesting textures. I’m very low-tech when it comes to my illustrations and enjoy the handmade look of the results; it just so happened that this approach was also very well suited to the era of the film.

What is your personal favourite part of the artwork?

My favourite part of the illustration has to be the Yorkshire terrier, simply because I’m a huge dog lover and they’re my favourite thing to draw – so full of character. I did also enjoy painting the steam train as I relish doing particularly detailed and tiny artworks.