15-year old Londoner, Zoom Rockman, has been writing, drawing and publishing his own award-winning comic The Zoom! since he was 8; he started working for The Beano! when he was 12, and has a monthly comic strip featuring his character, ‘Skanky Pigeon' - inspired by all the local Pigeons in his home town.

Needless to say we at The Big Draw think that Zoom Rockman is a drawing inspiration, and are  delighted to announce that he will be lending his support as an official ambassador of The Big Draw!

You may recognise Zoom and his work. Back in March of this year, he donated an artwork in support of The Big Draw for the It's Our World auction at Christie's. Now, as an ambassador, Zoom will support a wide array of The Big Draw's events and activities to help us champion the power of drawing and the importance of visual literacy in schools and beyond, including the STEAM Symposium: Laboratory of Visual Exploration in Gateshead on 9-10 September and The World's Biggest Drawing Festival from 1-31 October.

When asked how he felt about his new role, Zoom said:

‘It’s a real honour to be made an ambassador for The Big Draw, I’m really looking forward to working with them!’

_{Zoom Rockman (Ambassador of The Big Draw) with Children's Laureate Chris Riddell (Patron of The Big Draw)}

_{at It's Our World Auction in support of The Big Draw. Christie's, London, 2016.}

Here's a bit more about Zoom...

Zoom has featured in Evening Standard’s Power 1000 list of influential Londoners, is a member of the Mayor’s Fund Youth Board, an ambassador for Positive Youth in Haringey, Spirit of London Awards (he won their media award in 2012), and BICOF Comic Festival in South Korea (he won their international kids comic artist award for 2 years running). He runs regular cartoon workshops around the country in schools and at festivals.

Zoom held his first solo exhibition of original artwork at the Westminster Reference Library in Leicester Square, London in December 2015. At the Private View, Zoom was in conversation with Paul Gravett (who curated the ‘Comics Unmasked’ Exhibition at the British Library – which featured Zoom’s work) and also launched his latest comic, ‘The Zoom! No.11’. A frame of Zoom’s original artwork from this show is the piece that featured in the It's Our World charity auction at Christies.

Check out  Zoom's artwork

Zoom has recently exhibited his latest, local artwork at The Queen's Pub in Crouch End. This also featured his Skanky Pigeon Strips for The Beano, which were set in the Haringey area.

All 11 issues of Zoom’s comic are available to read on his website: www.thezoom.co.uk

You can also follow Zoom on Twitter @The_ZoomComic

Read the full press release here.