Aileen Radford is the creative genius behind the magic of Darkwood Fantasy Creatures.

An artist from the very start she was never without a pencil and paper to bring her visions to life, from creating entire worlds and magical beasts to inhabit them, to shaping dragons out of paper and glue, she simply can't remember a moment in her life where she wasn't creating.

"I'm reminded of a quote from Rowan Atkinson, 'I've Never needed other people around to keep myself happy or entertained.' but its different now, I've people who care about me and they drive me to keep going and creating bigger and better things." ~Aileen Radford

Growing up in a small mining town in rural Queensland Australia, Aileen struggled greatly to find company amongst her peers and instead reclused herself into her artwork until her early teens in which she discovered a boon of likeminded artistic people across the globe on sites such as Youtube and Deviantart.

And it was there she discovered the magnificent world of art dolls-

"I was Enthralled, for the first time I saw it was possible to bring creatures I'd only ever scribbled on paper into the real world. I believe it was a doll by Lisa Toms I saw first, then another from Anya Boz, and even more from the likes of Kaypeacreations, Escaron and so many others. They all inspired me to create my first doll, and that drive has stuck with me since." ~Aileen Radford

-And rediscovered puppetry through a new and enchanting lens.

"I Was TERRIFED of puppets! My older sister made me watch the Labyrinth when I was a child and it scared me so badly I couldn't even watch the muppets afterwards! Its so funny thinking back on it now that its my fulltime job." ~Aileen Radford

Starting as a hobby and with limited means to fund her endeavor of bringing her imagination to life, Aileens first creation was crafted using dollar store air dry clay, a wire coat hanger, and an old stuffed toy.

"It collapsed almost instantly haha! But instead of discouraging me it made me frustratingly motivated. I saved up as much as I could and tried again, and again, until finally it worked, I never imagined it'd sell never mind as quickly as it did." ~Aileen Radford

Aileen first posted her original doll up for sale on eBay back in 2010, a decision that'd alter the course of her life forever as it sold within mere days, and with the funds she was able to fund further projects, swiftly snowballing into a thriving career creating bespoke one of a kind original fantasy creations all the way from poseable fantasy creatures to fully functioning advanced puppets.

"I never expected my work to get this big, the decision to go fulltime as an artist was pretty much a no brainer after my work kept selling out in literal minutes." ~Aileen Radford

Since her decision to join Tiktok in 2020 Aileen has amassed thousands of followers including 200K on her TikTok alone and over 100K on her Instagram with plans to continue growing and spreading her magic further!