We draw small stories that do big jobs.

We're Ines Varga and Tobi Okafor, two illustrators working out of a converted garden shed in Bristol. We make picture books, explainer films and posters that turn tricky ideas into something you'd happily stick on the fridge.

Start a project

or peek at the work first

Dot the moth, the studio mascot, fluttering in the glow of the shed lamp above a desk with an open sketchbook, a mug of tea and a pot of pencils
now booking Spring '27

Pinned to the board

Six recent favourites off the shed wall: two picture books, two explainer films and two posters. Every one of them started as a doodle on the back of an envelope, and most of them still have Dot hiding somewhere.

  • The Lighthouse Who Couldn't Sleep

    Little Lantern Press · 2025

    ↳ 32-page picture book, 14 drafts of the moon

  • Where Does the Rain Go?

    Severn Valley Water · 2025

    ↳ 90-second explainer film for primary schools

  • Mrs Pockett's Runaway Hat

    Nosy Owl Books · 2024

    ↳ picture book; the hat now gets its own fan mail

  • Downs Kite Day

    Bristol Kite Club · 2024

    ↳ poster, printed 600 times, flown once (by accident)

  • Why Bees Dance

    Brightwater Science Centre · 2023

    ↳ 3-minute film, 1,200 hand-drawn frames

  • Read in Bed Week

    Northgate Libraries · 2023

    ↳ poster series: three pyjamas, one very smug cat

How a thing gets made

A picture book takes us four to six months from first chat to print files; an explainer film usually eight to twelve weeks. Here's roughly where all that time goes.

  1. Tea & questions

    We sit down (or dial in) and ask about everything, including the awkward bits. You leave with a one-page brief; we leave with a head full of ideas.

    about 1 week

  2. Scribble storm

    Pages of loose thumbnails, characters and silly ideas. We show you the best three directions, not the worst forty.

    1–2 weeks

  3. Rough draft

    A full storyboard or book dummy in pencil, so you can read it, poke it and change your mind while it's still cheap.

    2–3 weeks

  4. Ink & colour

    The careful part: final line and colour, and for films, frame-by-frame animation and sound. The kettle works overtime.

    4–12 weeks

  5. Out the door

    Print-ready files or a film master, plus the scraps for your socials. Then we wave it off from the shed door.

    a few days

Two humans and a moth

How Pocket Moth began

Ines and Tobi met in 2016 on the night bus home from animation school, both secretly drawing the same snoring man in the seat opposite. Tobi gave him a moustache. Ines gave the moustache a tiny moth, asleep.

A year later we rented a leaky garden shed in Ashley Down, hung up one lamp, and Pocket Moth began. The moth stayed. We named her Dot, and she has turned up in every project since, sometimes hidden, sometimes very much not.

Since then we've drawn 23 picture books and 41 explainer films for publishers, museums, water companies and one extremely patient bakery. Same shed, same lamp, and we still answer every email ourselves.

— Ines & Tobi (and Dot)

Ines Vargabooks, words & too many pencils
Tobi Okaforfilms, frames & the kettle

Send us a postcard

Got a book, a film or a blank wall that needs a drawing? Tell us about it and we'll reply within two working days, usually with a doodle in the margin.

1st
Pocket Moth
The Shed, 9 Ashley Hill
Bristol, England