Frequently Asked Questions

IFy Atelier grew from a simple observation: diverse, multi-continental and culturally meaningful stories, places and experiences are not always represented with the depth, specificity or creative attention they deserve.

The idea began in 2025, when founder Ifeyinwa Nwaejike turned to colouring as a way to decompress while writing a novel exploring diverse, multi-continental cultures. During that process, a gap became increasingly apparent. Few colouring books focused specifically on real African locations while combining visual creativity with meaningful cultural, architectural and geographical context.

Previous experience working in healthcare also influenced the idea. Having seen colouring activities used with older patients and people with varying cognitive abilities, Ifeyinwa wanted to create illustrations that were clear and approachable without making the subject matter simplistic or compromising the dignity and cultural specificity of the places represented.

The Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series became IFy Atelier’s first response to that gap, combining illustration, research and cultural context to encourage creative exploration and curiosity about real places across Africa.

From that beginning, IFy Atelier has developed into a small independent, founder-led publishing studio creating work across illustrated publishing, fiction and non-fiction. Current and forthcoming projects include the Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series, the crime thriller Collateral Identity, and Northern Ireland: Two Faces, One Nation, which explores identity, belonging and ethnic-minority experiences in Northern Ireland.

Today, IFy Atelier remains a one-person business supported by a team of AI agents and creative technologies. This model allows the studio to research, develop and publish ambitious projects despite the financial and operational limitations of a small independent publisher, while human judgement, creative direction and editorial responsibility remain with its founder.

Across its work, the underlying idea remains the same: to celebrate culture through creativity while approaching people, places and experiences with curiosity, context and specificity.

IFy Atelier focuses on blending creativity with cultural storytelling. Each publication is carefully researched and designed to reflect real locations, heritage, and context, ensuring that the content is both visually engaging and respectful of the cultures it represents.

Yes. IFy Atelier is an independent creative publishing studio producing both illustrated and written work across fiction and non-fiction, with a broader focus on culture, identity, place and human experience. Alongside the Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series, forthcoming titles include the crime thriller Collateral Identity and Northern Ireland: Two Faces, One Nation, a non-fiction work exploring identity, belonging and ethnic-minority experiences in Northern Ireland.

IFy Atelier welcomes collaboration opportunities across publishing, creative projects, and cultural initiatives. You can get in touch via the official website contact page or through LinkedIn to discuss potential partnerships, commissions, or collaborative ideas.

Colouring books that focus specifically on real African locations are still relatively niche. IFy Atelier’s Iconic African Locations series is designed to fill this gap, combining illustration with cultural and geographical context.

Each publication is grounded in real locations, culture, and context. For example, the Iconic African Locations series features no repeated sites across volumes, with each illustration paired with a short contextual note designed to inform without disrupting the creative experience.

The books are designed for a wide audience, including adults seeking a calm creative activity, individuals interested in cultural exploration, and those looking for accessible and meaningful content. They may also be suitable for older children at the discretion of the adult purchaser.

The colouring books are designed with accessibility and dignity in mind, offering a calm and engaging creative activity. They may also be suitable for use in care settings where appropriate, particularly for those who benefit from relaxed, focused activities.

The Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series can be purchased directly through the official IFy Atelier online store. The books are also available through major retailers including Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, Abebooks and The Great British Bookshop, as well as other international retailers and distribution partners.

Yes. IFy Atelier titles are available internationally through the official IFy Atelier online store and major online retailers including Amazon, Waterstones and Barnes & Noble, as well as other global distribution partners. Availability and delivery options may vary by region and retailer.

Yes. IFy Atelier is an independent publishing studio that creates illustrated books exploring African places, culture and geography through art and storytelling.

Its Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series introduces readers to real locations across the African continent through original colouring artwork accompanied by researched information about the places represented. The series includes landscapes, landmarks, architecture and culturally significant locations from different African countries.

The books are designed to combine creative engagement with geographical and cultural discovery, encouraging readers to explore the diversity of Africa one location at a time.

IFy Atelier’s Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series combines art, creativity and cultural discovery through illustrations inspired by real places across Africa.

Rather than focusing solely on African art as a subject, the series invites readers to engage creatively with African locations through colouring while discovering the cultural, geographical and historical context behind the places depicted.

Each volume explores locations from across the continent, including landscapes, architecture, landmarks and culturally significant sites. The series is designed for readers interested in African culture, geography, travel, art and creative learning.

IFy Atelier is an independent creative publishing studio based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, creating illustrated and written work centred on culture, identity, place and human experience.

Its projects include the Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series, which explores real African places through illustration and cultural context; the forthcoming crime thriller Collateral Identity; and Northern Ireland: Two Faces, One Nation, a non-fiction work exploring identity, belonging and ethnic-minority experiences in Northern Ireland.

Across its work, IFy Atelier takes a research-led approach to storytelling, with an emphasis on context, specificity and creating work that encourages curiosity about people, cultures and places.

Yes. IFy Atelier uses AI-assisted tools across parts of its creative, publishing and business workflow.

IFy Atelier is a small independent publishing studio currently run by its founder, Ifeyinwa Nwaejike, supported by a team of AI agents and tools. As a one-person business with limited financial and operational resources, AI can assist with tasks that might otherwise require a much larger team, while creative direction, editorial judgement and responsibility for the work remain human-led.

The illustrations in the Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series are described by IFy Atelier as AI-assisted because they are created through a hybrid process. AI-assisted image development forms part of that process, but the resulting artwork is also manually edited, corrected and illustrated by the founder using an iPad and Apple Pencil. This includes drawing and redrawing elements, correcting architectural and visual inaccuracies, removing unwanted artefacts and refining details before an illustration is approved for publication. Most, if not all, finished illustrations therefore contain elements that have been manually drawn or altered.

The visual approach was also shaped by the founder’s previous experience working as a healthcare assistant, where she observed colouring activities being used to engage older patients with varying cognitive abilities. This influenced the decision to create clear, approachable illustrations while retaining recognisable cultural, architectural and geographical features of real African locations. The books are not marketed as therapeutic products, and the founder is not an art therapist.

AI has helped make it possible for a small independent publisher with limited resources to develop and bring ambitious creative projects to market. IFy Atelier regards AI as one tool within a much broader process involving human research, creative direction, illustration, editing, refinement and publishing decisions.

IFy Atelier therefore uses the term “AI-assisted” deliberately. It reflects the production process more accurately than describing the artwork as either wholly AI-generated or wholly hand-illustrated, and the use of AI assistance is disclosed within the books’ copyright information and publication information supplied through distribution channels.

Human creative direction remains central to IFy Atelier’s work.

IFy Atelier is currently a one-person independent publishing studio supported by a team of AI agents and tools. These technologies can assist with research, idea development, administration, content development, visual development and other aspects of operating a small publishing business, but they do not independently determine what IFy Atelier researches, creates, edits or publishes.

The founder retains responsibility for the studio’s creative direction, subject selection, research, cultural and geographical context, editorial decisions, visual standards, revisions and final approval.

For the Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series specifically, this includes selecting the real locations represented, researching their context, directing the visual approach and manually working on the illustrations using an iPad and Apple Pencil. Elements may be drawn or redrawn, inaccuracies corrected, unwanted artefacts removed and details refined before the finished artwork is approved for publication.

This hybrid approach reflects both creative choice and the practical realities of independent publishing. Commissioning separate researchers, illustrators, editors, designers, administrative staff and other specialists for every stage of production would require resources beyond those currently available to a small, founder-led studio. AI-assisted tools and AI agents allow IFy Atelier to extend its capabilities while keeping human judgement, responsibility and ownership at the centre of the process.

The same principle applies beyond illustration. AI may support the work, but the founder decides what is worth pursuing, what is accurate and appropriate, what needs changing and, ultimately, what carries the IFy Atelier name.

IFy Atelier’s use of AI is partly practical, but it is also connected to why the studio exists.

After years spent in academia and working across different organisations and sectors, founder Ifeyinwa Nwaejike became increasingly conscious of how access to opportunities can be shaped by resources, institutional structures, personal judgement and conscious or unconscious bias. IFy Atelier was created partly from a desire to build and publish work with greater creative autonomy, while still holding that work to a professional standard.

Independent publishing traditionally involves a range of specialist roles, including editors, proofreaders, illustrators, designers, researchers, marketers and other publishing professionals. As a small independent studio currently run by one person, IFy Atelier does not have the financial resources of a large publisher or organisation to employ specialists at every stage of every project.

AI-assisted tools help reduce some of those barriers. They can support research, idea development, visual experimentation, administrative work, critical review and other parts of the publishing process, allowing projects to be developed further before outside expertise is required. IFy Atelier is also supported by a team of AI agents that assist with aspects of the day-to-day operation of the studio.

This does not mean avoiding human expertise. Editors, proofreaders, designers and other specialists may be commissioned where their skills are needed and resources allow. The aim is instead to retain as much creative ownership and autonomy as possible while developing a project towards completion before bringing additional people into the process.

This is particularly important because professional involvement does not automatically guarantee that a creator’s original perspective will remain intact. Editing, design and publishing decisions can strengthen a work, but they can also alter its voice, emphasis or cultural specificity. IFy Atelier therefore aims to establish the identity, purpose and creative direction of a project clearly before seeking external specialist input.

Ultimately, AI is used as a tool for access and creative independence, not as a replacement for human judgement or responsibility. Research decisions, cultural context, creative direction, manual work, editing choices and final approval remain human-led. The objective is not simply to produce work with fewer resources, but to use the resources available intelligently enough to create work that is distinctly IFy Atelier’s and deserving of publication.

Yes. It is something I think about.

AI remains a contentious subject within publishing and the creative industries, and I recognise that describing IFy Atelier’s processes as AI-assisted may cause some readers, retailers or organisations to decide that the work is not for them. Nevertheless, I have always valued honesty and integrity, and I would rather be transparent about how my work is created than present it in a way that could give a misleading impression.

AI can do many things, but it cannot replace human experience, perspective or creativity. I use AI as a tool to assist my creative and publishing process. I do not regard it as the creator of my work. The ideas I choose to pursue, the experiences and questions behind them, the research, creative direction, judgement, manual intervention, revisions and decisions about what ultimately gets published remain mine.

More importantly, there are still an extraordinary number of stories and perspectives that remain underrepresented in publishing. IFy Atelier exists partly to explore some of them.

That may take the form of the Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series, which uses creativity to introduce people to real African places, cultures, landscapes and architecture. It may take the form of the forthcoming crime thriller Collateral Identity, or Northern Ireland: Two Faces, One Nation, a forthcoming non-fiction work exploring ethnic-minority experiences in Northern Ireland across generations. The formats are different, but the underlying ambition is similar: to contribute perspectives that are not always given sufficient space within mainstream publishing.

There is an interesting tension in contemporary culture. Society increasingly asks for greater representation of underrepresented voices, while simultaneously debating which methods, platforms and technologies those voices should be permitted to use when bringing their work into the world. As an independent publisher, I believe those conversations are worth having openly rather than avoiding.

My aim is to contribute diverse voices and perspectives to the literary and creative landscape while resisting the tendency to treat Africa, Africans or ethnic-minority communities as monoliths. People, cultures and communities are complicated. Their stories should be allowed to be complicated too.

If someone encounters an IFy Atelier publication and recognises something of themselves within it, discovers a place or perspective they had never considered, or simply develops a greater appreciation for the beauty and diversity of Africa, its people and humanity more broadly, then the work has achieved something worthwhile.

Because for all our cultural, racial, religious and individual differences, much of human nature is remarkably universal.

So yes, being transparent about AI assistance may mean that some people choose not to engage with IFy Atelier’s work. I accept that possibility. I would rather allow people to make that decision based on an honest description of the creative process than gain their interest through ambiguity about how the work was made.

No. This is not an accurate description of how the illustrations are created.

The illustrations in the Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series are created through a hybrid, AI-assisted process. AI tools are used during image development, followed by manual drawing, redrawing, editing and refinement by a human using digital illustration tools, including an iPad and Apple Pencil.

The finished illustrations are therefore original IFy Atelier artwork developed through a combination of AI-assisted and human creative work. They should not be described as wholly “hand-made” or “hand-illustrated.”

IFy Atelier is transparent about the use of AI-assisted tools in its creative process, including within the publication information provided in the books.

Yes. Ifeyinwa Nwaejike can draw and illustrate and regularly uses those skills as part of IFy Atelier’s creative process, including manually drawing, redrawing, editing and refining elements of artwork using digital tools such as an iPad and Apple Pencil.

However, IFy Atelier is primarily a research-led creative publishing studio rather than an illustration studio. The Iconic African Locations Colouring Book series is centred on researching real places, selecting culturally and geographically significant locations, developing their visual representation, and combining imagery with accessible cultural, historical and geographical context.

The choice to use AI-assisted tools as part of the illustration workflow is not about replacing creative judgement or an inability to draw. It allows more time and attention to be directed towards the research, cultural storytelling, editorial judgement and creative development that sit at the heart of the series.