Base Artists

At Base Planners, we're committed to collaborating with and championing local Australian artists working in the community. Each year, Base collaborates with a local artist to create a custom design. On this page, you'll discover the incredible talents behind the stunning front cover designs of our planners.

At Base Planners, we believe in empowering artists to create genuine, one-of-a-kind works of art that stand out from the crowd of traditional planner covers. Say goodbye to generic patterns, florals, and love hearts; our planners feature bold, contemporary artwork that reflects the teachers in our community.

If you're a local artist and you're keen to work with us, we'd love to hear from you! Send us an email at support@baseplanners.com.au.

  • 2027

    'Analogue'

  • 2026

    'Untamed'

  • 2025

    Untitled

2027 Cover Artist: Barry Patenaude

For 2027, we made it outside of Victoria and teamed up with the incredibly talented illustrator Barry Patenaude.

Barry's an Illustrator based on the sunny Gold Coast. A former architectural draftsperson, he left technical drawing behind to embrace the more colourful world of illustration.

Drawing on his signature vibrant style and idiosyncratic Australian humour, Barry has created illustrations for a wide range of projects and clients.

Barry created a custom design for Base which he aptly titled, Analogue. The aim was to create a lived-in, nostalgic, playful world full of iconic analogue objects, and coloured by a warm retro palette.

You may recognise Barry's work in advertisements, on local business walls and signs, on sport event posters, and even on beer cans. Barry also recently collaborated on a children's picture book called STANLEY - The Brush Turkey.

Barry's website

Some of Barry's work

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2026 Cover Artist: Justine McAllister

For our 2026 cover design, we were thrilled to collaborate with Naarm/Melbourne-based artist, Justine McAllister.

Justine is a contemporary painter and muralist originally from Ballarat, who is best known for her bold, large-scale murals around Australia.

Her creative reach spans far and wide; she's also designed tour posters for major bands like Pearl Jam and Blink-182, and most recently completed an international residency and exhibition in Japan titled 'Chasing Butterflies'.


Note from the Base team: if you'd love to see Justine's murals for yourself, here are some of the locations:


Victoria:

  • 'Horses & Hounds' - The Pullman Hotel, 265 Little Bourke Street
  • 'Dragon Dreaming' - Laneway next to 190 Barkly St, Footscray
  • 'Wild Things' - Wild Things Food, 230 St Georges Rd, Fitzroy North
  • 'Canterbury Garden' - Canterbury Train Station underpass, Canterbury
  • Mr West Bar and Bottleshop, 106 Nicholson Street Mall, Footscray
  • Melbourne Market, Epping
  • Motley Hotel, 205 Bridge Rd, Richmond
  • JC's Quality Foods, Unit 1/1490 Ferntree Gully Rd, Knoxfield
  • Bendigo Bank, North Ballarat
  • MAMAWEST Footscray, 8 Thread La, Footscray


South Australia:

  • 'Reading by the River' - Salvation Army thrift shop, 4 Railway Terrace, Murray Bridge


Queensland:

  • Burleigh Motel


Northern Territory:

  • 'Dessert Rose', West Lane, rear wall of Hilton Darwin, Darwin City

Justine's website

2025 Cover Artist: Lynn Bremner

Hi! I am a Scottish illustrator and muralist, based in Melbourne / Naarm, Australia. I love to create bold and colourful images with a focus on fun and intriguing colour palettes and strong compositions. I use my illustrations as a way to spread kindness and positivity through relationships between characters and objects. I have recently worked on packaging, books, murals, editorial illustration and animation.

Note from the Base team: if you live or work in the Bentleigh area of Melbourne, we highly recommend checking out Lynn's incredible mural for the Sacred Heart Mission Op Shop!

Lynn's website