About Me

Sav Akyuz is a storyboard artist, visual storyteller and award-winning children’s book illustrator. Over a career spanning more than 25 years, he has storyboarded almost 3,000 commercials, drawing everything from Porsches to potatoes, Depp to Pitt, and Ronaldo to supermarket roundels. His collaborators include directors Tom Hooper, Tarsem Singh, Terry Gilliam and Harry Bradbeer, with credits including John Lewis’s much-loved Christmas film, The Bear and The Hare.

His route into storytelling has been anything but conventional: visual effects on feature films, a spell at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, cutting cloth for Burberry and Aquascutum, and selling ice creams outside Tate Britain. Each offered its own lessons in craft, character and keeping your cool.

After years spent drawing other people’s stories, Sav turned to children’s books. His debut, I Am Bear, won the Renaissance Award for Best Primary School Book in 2019. He is published by Walker Books, Bloomsbury and Oxford Children’s.

Alongside his commercial and publishing work, Sav shares his passion for visual storytelling through workshops, school visits and literary festivals across the UK and internationally. He has appeared on Blue Peter, BBC Scotland’s Authors Live and BBC Radio 3, and has served as Patron of Reading for Hackney Schools.