I was born in Tallinn on 12 January, 1958. I spent my childhood and early years going to school in Tallinn and spending the summer in South Estonia or in Saaremaa (Estonia´s biggest Baltic island).

From 1977 I studied graphic design at the State Art Institute of Estonia (now known as the Estonian Academy of Arts) and graduated as a graphic illustrator in 1984. Paul Luhtein was head of the graphics department during most of my time there. Among my professors were many well-known artists like Alo Hoidre, Siima Škop, Evald Okas, Silvi Liiva, Henno Arrak, Enno Ootsing etc. Poster design was very popular at that time and I also took part in several poster design exhibitions in Tallinn, Tartu, Riga and Vilnius.

My diploma work was a book about Estonian wild animals. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always liked drawing animals. I chose 14 animals and showed my ideas to Fred Jüssi, Estonia´s famous biologist. He liked my ideas very much and said that artists don´t often draw animals. That was true because at the institute they never taught us to. My diploma work was finished in a year and during that time I often exchanged views with the author of the text, Fred Jüssi. He gave me a lot of interesting material as well as useful comments about my drawings. In 1985 my work was shown at a personal exhibition in Tallinn. Publishing was very difficult at that time and our book wasn´t published until 1987. The result was a wide-ranging book about Estonian wild animals called Tell Me about the Fox. Some of the pictures from my book can be seen here on my webpage.

I draw my pictures on white or coloured paper using watercolours, colour pencils and tempera to accentuate certain aspects of a drawing.

Since graduating in 1984 I have worked as a freelance artist. I have done designs and illustrations for many Estonian publishing houses ("Valgus", "Koolibri", "Kunst", "Kupar", "Eesti Raamat", "Tänapäev", "Tiritamm", etc). Altogether I have designed and illustrated more than 140 books, including 15 biology textbooks. Books I have illustrated have won prizes in Estonia and abroad, and have been voted among the best 25, as well as children´s favourites. The true-to-life pictures of animals add a touch to them.

My daughter has studied photography and her photobank can be seen at www.mariannrea.com