He has barely graduated from his degree course, but illustrator Jake Williams clearly has a bright future ahead of him.

After winning New Designer of the Year at an industry show, the 23-year-old is now celebrating the release of his first picture book, Really Remarkable Reptiles.

It's something Jake, who lives in Mudeford, never thought he would see.

"A lot of people were always very good at writing then they were younger. I never felt that confident, but I enjoyed it," he explains.

"I never through it would be something I would have the ability to do later in my life."

Jake instead followed the artistic route - taking GCSE art and a more computer-based graphic course at A-Level, followed by a foundation course at Brockenhurst College, which led onto a degree in illustrating at Plymouth College of Art.

"I knew I liked illustrating, but I never knew where my work would fit in the industry," says Jake, who moved back to Dorset on completion of his degree.

"There are so many areas of illustrating. I learnt about the industry; visual communication; looking at how we can take anything - TV shows, film - and how you can visualise that in one image or a sequence of images without the use of text.

"It's preparing you for work in every avenue you want to try and a big part about the business side and the legal side of things, as most people that are illustrators will be self-employed."

After finishing his course, Jake attended the Business Design Centre's design and illustrator show for graduates and new designers in July 2017, where his work was noticed by industry experts.

"About 70 universities go there with 20 people each to exhibit your work and promote to people in the industry," he explains.

"I was lucky enough to win New Designer of the Year. I had made 20 or so pages from the book as part of my final project, so I got to promote that to publishers there - that's what led to the full book.

"They called me over to have a chat. Just asked me to talk through my work. After I had done that, they went away, came back again with more judges. They told me I had been short-listed and they did the awards in the evening.

"I got £1,500 in prize money; I got accountancy for x amount - they're there to support me for my first year of taxing; you get legal advice to help you set yourself up, make sure your website is not vulnerable to the art work being stolen.

"And they picked me up for this book and at least two others."

For someone who says his weakest subject at school was English, Jake is justifiably proud of his efforts with Really Remarkable Reptiles, a 96-page, quirky picture book filled with fascinating information on the creatures.

"The publishers were happy for me to write it. Because it's for kids, it's about breaking it down so it's easy to read, interesting and fun. I spent a lot of time on the text, got friends and family to read it.

"I wanted it to feel familiar with each page, but unique as well - I didn't want it to be repetitive."

Jake has aimed the book, which took his around six months to produce and was released in August, at youngsters aged five to 12 years, with younger children able to enjoy the pictures, and older readers learning facts from his text.

"I did a lot of research about what's out there already, what's popular, what isn't out there," he says.

"My partner's mum is a child minder, so I got her to talk to the children she looked after. I found there were a few books already, but none that were illustrated in this way and written in this format, and I wanted to try and slot into a proper gap."

As well as working on his next two books, Jake has one eye on the future.

"I enjoy working on a few areas," he says. "The books are the bread and butter, but I also like editing, I like working on adverts and I do a little bit of animation. It would be really nice to work on the projects that I enjoy, but also to artistic direct more as well, for a magazine or company, and maybe even part-time lecturing."

For now though, he is still getting used to his success with Really Remarkable Reptiles.

"Never in a million years would I have said I would write a book," he smiles.

Really Remarkable Reptiles is out now, published by Pavilion Children's (HB £12.99)

:: jakewilliams.co.uk