Pam Adams
1919-2010
Pam Adams was born in 1919 in Swindon, Wiltshire. She was always drawing as a child so Swindon Art College was the natural place to begin her formal art training. In the 50’s and 60’s, following several years at the Central School of Art in London, she worked as a graphic artist for various advertising agencies in the city. When she returned to Swindon in the 70’s she teamed up with Michael Twinn who had recently founded Child’s Play. Her first book ‘There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly’, published in 1972, is still Child’s Play best selling title. Pam moved into writing with the ‘Mrs Honey’ series. Her attractive artwork, sense of humour and great versatility made her an invaluable member of the Child’s Play team. Pam worked for Child’s Play for nearly forty years, illustrating her final book, a prequel to ‘There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly’ in 2006. Sadly Pam passed away in 2010 at the age of 91.
Carousel Illustrator Focus - Pam Adams
Paul Adshead
As a child, only two things really interested me: wildlife and art. I was fascinated by nature and loved drawing and painting the creatures I saw around me. I was also an avid reader. I started to write and illustrate professionally during the mid 1980’s. My first book, called “A Peacock on the Roof” told the true story of my pet family of peacocks. My second book, “The Chicken that could Swim” told another true story and was nominated for the Kate Greenaway award for illustration. Due to the enormous popularity of the hidden puzzles in these two books, I soon became known for creating complex picture Puzzle books, starting with Puzzle Island- which went on to sell over a million copies. This was followed by more puzzle books: “One Odd Old Owl”, “The Red Herring Mystery” and “Around the World with Phineas Frog.” In between, I branched out into writing short novels for children. “The Secret Hedgehog,” “Trilby” and finally, “The Incredible Reversing Peppermints” which was nominated for the Redhouse Children’s Book Award.
Zuriñe Aguirre
Zuriñe Aguirre was born and grew up in Vitoria, in the north of Spain. Now she lives in Seville, in the warmer south, with her three boys. She loves to travel, and to visit new places and countries. Zuriñe taught herself to illustrate. She studied Interior Design and has a Masters Degree in Web Design, and a Postgraduate qualification in Digital and Print Production. When she was little, she used to have lunch every Sunday with her grandmother Lola and her grandfather Lolo. Once, she put her crayons on the barbeque along with the sardines that Lola was cooking, to keep them warm. When Lola served lunch that day, the sardines were all the colours of the rainbow!
Alborozo
At the bouncy age of fifteen, Gabriel Alborozo began working as a cartoonist for Private Eye, Punch, The Spectator and numerous other magazines. He has been a freelance cartoonist and illustrator ever since. Along the way, he managed to fit in living in Australia for a while. Working in animation and archaeological illustration, he ended up in all sorts of hot and uncomfortable places. His first love, though, has always been illustrating for children, and bringing as much joy and happiness as possible into the worlds visited by his readers. He now lives in Sussex by the seaside with his awesome wife, watches a lot of films (preferably featuring robots and/or aliens), walks about quite a bit, and draws a great deal.
Kip Alizadeh
Kip Alizadeh is an illustrator and visual artist. When they aren’t creating, they like to DJ, spend time with their cats, and play sports. Kip is nonbinary, queer, Iranian, and English, and lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Marta Altés
I studied graphic design in Barcelona and, after working there as a graphic designer for almost five years, I decided to pursue my interest for illustration that I had since I was a child. Last year I joined the MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Now, after finishing the course, I think that it was the BEST decision I ever made. I had worked in illustration doing some freelance work before this course, but I had never had the chance to work on it full time and it makes me feel so lucky and happy. What I like the most about illustration is that it allows me to bring a smile to the person looking at my drawings or reading my stories. I always try to have a positive and funny vision of life and I hope this can be seen in my work.
www.martaltes.com
martaltes.blogspot.com
Airlie Anderson
I grew up in Carmel, California. It is a beach town, but not the hot kind with boardwalks and inner tubes. Carmel is the cold, crisp kind of beach town with a deep blue abyss and green-black cypress trees. The sand is white and squeaks when you walk on it, and you can hear sea lions and seals and crows. The surf culture is strong, even though the ocean can be icy cold. I treasure that post-swim feeling of tingly saltiness. I think it's why I love oysters. After approximately a zillion figure drawings and studies in oil, a study abroad programme in Rome, stints in San Francisco and New York City, I have my own little studio near Princeton. Around here you can see fireflies, rabbits, deer and woodchucks all at once!
Sarah Arnold
Having trained as a conceptual fine artist at Goldsmith's College, I now spend my time drawing crocodiles, rabbits and porcupines with clothes on! But that's what I love doing best. After a period studying art history in France and teaching English I came back to London and worked as a wallpaper designer, a mural painter and portrait artist, where I specialized in Dogs, before embarking on a short children's book illustration course at Chelsea with the wonderful Carolyn Dinan. There I won a highly commended on the Macmillan prize which was encouraging and after a few years of struggle I now work as a freelance illustrator/writer in London and make my living jumping between adult and children's illustration, and feel very lucky, and love it!
Mark Birchall
Mark grew up in the northwest of England. His heroes were Nelson, Achilles, and Roger Hunt the footballer. He went to art college in Liverpool and Norwich, where he graduated in graphic-design. When he decided he’d like to illustrate children’s books he went to writing-classes at Kensington & Chelsea College, hoping to find somebody there who could write stories for him to illustrate. Instead he found that he liked writing too. When he realized that he didn’t know how to do the pictures he went to Chelsea College of Art to study illustration. He occasionally teaches there now. Mark lives in London.
Claudia Boldt
I went to Glasgow School of Art as well as Kingston University where I graduated with a Masters in Illustration in 2007. The same year I founded Cloud Cuckoo Studio with fellow illustrator Katharina Koall in London's East End. What I like doing most is writing and illustrating fun and slightly absurd comedies for 4 year olds! I want to entertain while remaining truthful to my personal emotions, interests and ideas. Apart from making picture books my work has been exhibited internationally and was showcased in several publications including Images 33 and the 3x3 Illustration Directory. Recent editorial commissions include Waterstone's Books Quarterly, Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin.
Sebastien Braun
Sebastien was born in France, and studied Fine and Applied Art at Strasbourg University.
Before becoming a freelance illustrator, he taught Applied Arts for editorial clients in Paris. When he moved to London in 2000 he decided he wanted to illustrate children’s books, and since then he’s done just that! As well as illustration, Sebastien loves to make art out of found objects like walnut shells!
Megan Brewis
Megan Brewis grew up in South Africa, where she worked as a textile designer before moving to England. Her love of stories and drawing led her to study at Cambridge School of Art, where she graduated with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration in 2016. Megan’s background in textiles continues to influence her work through colour, pattern, and exploration of media. She lives in Ely with her two daughters and three cats, all of whom love a good story.
Katie Brosnan
Katie Brosnan loves being creative. When she isn’t drawing, writing or screen-printing, she helps to run art workshops for children and makes one-off ceramic characters. She achieved an MA with Distinction in Children’s Book Illustration from the Cambridge School of Art and a BA in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University. In 2018, Katie was a UK winner in the international picture book competition ‘Picture This!’ and was highly commended in the Macmillan Prize for illustration.
Ailsa Burrows
As a little girl, Ailsa Burrows was given stacks of books, oodles of crayons and heaps of encouragement to be creative. Some of her earliest memories are of scribbling on paper napkins whilst munching on triangles of toast in a cafe with her Grandpa. She knew it then: when she grew up, she wanted to draw. And, possibly, eat lots of toast. Ailsa's a little bit more grown up now. She studied Fine Art at university before working at a design agency and a couple of art galleries. Recently, Ailsa left the world of art galleries to gain a Masters in Children's Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art, where she discovered just how exciting adventures in the world of picture books could be. Picture books introduced Ailsa to art, stories and the big wide world. Now, she loves to make stories that stay with people. Stories that make people feel the way she felt when she was little – loved and inspired.
Caragh Buxton
Caragh currently works and lives in South London, England, with her partner and four teenage children. Although London is now her base, Caragh’s childhood was spent in the middle of the English countryside, and the animals and nature she encountered then have had a lasting influence on her work. Caragh graduated from the MA in Children’s Illustration at Cambridge School of Art in 2016. In addition to running a successful party business, Caragh has focused her attention since then on becoming a children’s illustrator and author.
Jo Byatt
Jo was born in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. Even though she lived by the sea, she wasn’t a huge fan of sand. She still lives nearby with her husband, two daughters, and Ziggy Stardust the pug. A children’s illustrator all of her professional life, Jo is self-taught and works digitally. She has been a member of SCBWI since 2014. Although Jo has illustrated over forty children’s books to date, she is very proud of the fact that Bea by the Sea is her first authored book.
Hannah Cumming
Hannah grew up in Dorset, England, and was drawing and writing stories as soon as she was old enough to hold a pencil. After teaching in a primary school in Malaysia (and doodling many pictures on the blackboard), it dawned on her that putting pictures and words together was how she wanted to make a living. She went on to study Illustration at University College Falmouth, graduating in 2007 with First Class Honours. She has twice gained Highly Commended in the Macmillan Children’s Book Prize for her original picture book ideas and was commissioned to illustrate her first book, ‘The Gift’, written by Victoria Field for Fal Publications, while at university.
She has produced work for a number of clients since, including Brightday Publishing, the NSPCC, and the Welsh Assembly. Hannah enjoys walking up hills (Eggardon Hill in Dorset is her favourite), baking experimental cakes, drinking tea, and with her artist sister Chloe, forms an as yet unbeaten Pictionary team.
Roxana De Rond
Roxana is an illustrator with a passion for drawing people and dogs. After years of moving between the States and the UK, she settled in Cambridge, where she immediately fell in love with the city’s historic buildings, green spaces, and interesting inhabitants (furry or otherwise). In 2016, Roxana graduated with an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University.
Courtney Dicmas
My path towards illustration began in first grade math class. I spent hours fixated on my teacher’s woolly cardigan, imagining the fibrous tufts into sublunary shapes: whale sharks, moon dust, neon octopus suckers. In retrospect, these early ventures into re-arranging reality serve to illuminate my clear decision to become an illustrator. I feel hugely grateful to my family and friends, as well as my tutors and colleagues from the BA Studio Art course at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota and the MA Children’s Book Illustration program at the Cambridge School of Art at ARU, who have helped me to become the person I am today (parrot squawks and all).
www.courtneydicmas.wordpress.com
Lucy Dillamore
Lucy has always loved drawing. She had a very happy childhood making up stories with her sister Rachael and her aunt Rita. While studying for her degree in Illustration at Norwich University, Lucy decided to become a children's book illustrator. As soon as she had graduated, she enrolled on the MA course in Children's Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. Lucy's partner Richard had a very cute dog called Nipper, who inspired her to write this story about the bond of love between a dog and its owner. Lucy currently lives in Lincolnshire, England. She can usually be found in her studio with a cup of tea in one hand and a paintbrush in the other.
Petronela Dostalova
Petronela was born in the former Czechoslovakia. She grew up in a little village called Borša, surrounded by woods and vineyards. From the age of 14 she studied at a boarding school in Košice.When she was 18 Petronela decided to live and study in Suffolk, UK where she received her arts degree. Soon after graduation she decided to enroll in the MA Children's Book Illustration course at the Cambridge School of Art.She currently lives in scenic Tattingstone with her partner Dan and dog Haribo. Petronela loves exploring the coasts and estuaries of Suffolk where many of her story ideas are born.
Jenny Duke
Jenny has always loved books and drawing pictures, so illustrating children’s books is her perfect occupation. As a child Jenny was always happiest with a book in her bag and a pencil in her hand. Since graduating from the Children’s Book Illustration MA in Cambridge, UK, objects and places continue to feed her with stories and poems, providing an ever-growing source of inspiration. Jenny always starts with drawing, but never knows quite what will happen next...
Jo Empson
Jo Empson lives in Wiltshire, and recently graduated from Cambridge School of Art with a Masters in Children’s Book Illustration. Her background as a graphic designer has had a great influence on her work, and she especially loves children's book's created by ex-designers, such as the great Eric Carle. Her illustrations are inspired by nature, expressing this through texture and movement with a strong sense of shape, color and design. She loves playing with color in the form of a visual narrative. Her abiding wish is to produce beautiful books with depth and meaning. Children's books remain her passion. She is never happier than when she is swept away in storytelling - in all its aspects - whether it be writing, illustrating or just reading a favorite picture book (which she still does every night!).
Trudi Esberger
Raised on Yorkshire puddings and Hendersons Relish, Trudi stayed in her home town of Sheffield to study for her degree in Fine Art. After graduating, she worked in London design and advertising agencies and whilst she learnt a great deal in these previous incarnations, the pull to draw was too great. Trudi embarked on a new journey to explore her love of picture books and graduated from Cambridge School of Art with a Masters in Children’s Book Illustration. Trudi now works part time as a Lecturer in illustration and writes and illustrates children’s books for the other part. She finds it a much more rewarding way to spend her time and she loves what she does.
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Rosie Faragher
Rosie Faragher lives in Edinburgh. She was born in Berwick-upon-Tweed and spent her childhood in France and Luxembourg. After studying English Literature and Art History at the University of York she moved to Bristol where learned new creative skills, ran art workshops for children and got involved in publishing independent comics. It didn't take long for her to find her way back to drawing and she graduated with a Masters in Children's Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art.
Renata Galindo
Renata Galindo’s home is in Mexico City. She spent a big part of her childhood drawing pictures, fighting with her younger sister, and removing the cherries from every cake she came across. She moved to the UK in 2012 to study an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. Her second favourite thing in the world is books (the first one is cake), and she can frequently be found asking to borrow a pencil from friends and strangers alike, since she never remembers to bring one with her. She now spends her days drawing pictures and making up stories, and she leaves cherries alone (most of the time).
Evgenia Golubeva
Evgenia is an award-winning animation director, illustrator and writer. She writes for Disney, Nick Jr and the BBC. Her animated short films for children have received a number of awards at film festivals, including a UNICEF award. She loves traveling and speaks six languages. She lives in Stratford-upon-Avon in the UK with her husband, bilingual daughter and their sausage dog Astra.
Aoife Greenham
Aoife is an author, illustrator and printmaker living and creating in Manchester.
Originally from West Cork in Ireland, she studied Animation at the National Film School in Dún Laoghaire, and has worked in film and TV for many years. Combining her love of silliness, colour and handmade storytelling, she completed a Masters in Children's Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. There she learned from classmates and tutors alike, and delved into the playful world of printmaking. During lockdown, Aoife has been spotted dancing the Fancy Chicken in her studio.
Julia Groves
Julia originally studied Fine Art printmaking at Brighton University. In 2014, she graduated from the prestigious Cambridge School of Art, MA in Children’s Book Illustration. Animal Babies, Julia’s first series of baby books published by Child’s Play, was nominated forthe Progressive Pre-School awards and received a starred Kirkus Review in the USA. Rainforest, her first picture book, also published by Child’s Play, received an Outstanding Merit in the Best Children’s Books of the Year list from Bank Street College of Education, NYC. Julia also works as a college lecturer, teaching illustration, graphics and printmaking. She lives in Norwich with her arty and musical family.
Maria Gulemetova
Maria was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. Her father was an illustrator, and her mother is an art historian. Their house was full of beautiful illustrated books, and she remembers spending many hours absorbed in the pictures. She attended a specialized high school, majoring in Textiles, and went on to study Textiles at the Art Academy in Sofia. Gradually, however, she discovered a love of communicating ideas through stories, which led her to the wonderful MA course at Anglia Ruskin. Currently she lives in Eugene, Oregon, with her husband and two kids, where they enjoy plenty of rain, wildlife and natural beauty.
Gillian Hibbs
Following her illustration degree at Falmouth, Gillian has had many jobs, including party entertainer, zoo presenter, and not-very-good barista. She also wrote and illustrated three popular picture books, Covered in Adventures, Errol’s Garden and Tilly's At Home Holiday/Tilly’s Staycation, all published by Child’s Play. Now she lives by the ocean, where she spends her time drawing, looking for sea creatures, and thinking about whales.
Ariane Hofmann-Maniyar
Ariane has been a storyteller all her life, and her teddy bear and little brother were her first captive audience! For the last ten years she has been a traveller too, visiting countries like India, Japan, and the USA and discovering the way that new cultures open doors into new worlds. She has recently ventured through a Psychology degree, and her latest journey took her to Anglia Ruskin University, where she completed her MA in Children's Book Illustration. For the moment, she has settled in London. She can be found there, sitting in her jungle garden, writing and illustrating exciting adventure stories.
Arthur John L'Hommedieu
Arthur John L’Hommedieu was born in 1969 in a farming community in New Jersey.
Art realized early on that he wanted to be an artist, and began designing books as a young teenager. The first titles he presented to Child’s Play were ‘Egg, Tadpole, Frog’ and ‘Butterfly’. They were completely finished books, and utterly original. Michael Twinn, the company founder, was captivated, and began developing the series of books with Art that we still sell today.
Art was also a gifted teacher, and became a classroom favourite. In his bookmaking workshops, his lessons were simple and accessible to people of all ages, and his students were able to produce remarkable results in a short period of time.
Sadly, Art passed away in 1998.
Penny Ives
Penny Ives lives and works in Bath. Years ago Penny was a student at Bath Academy of Art and later Brighton Art School. Before that she was a very shy child who wouldn't say boo to a goose. It was always easier to sit in the shed with the dog and write poems.
Kees Moerbeek
Kees Moerbeek studied graphic design at the art school in Arnhem, The Netherlands, and works as a full-time paper engineer and illustrator. He lives in The Netherlands with his wife, the book designer and sculptor Carla Dijs.
Amanda Montgomery-Higham
Amanda lives in Cornwall with her husband Malcolm, their two dogs Poppy and Floyd, and one very bad cat! She currently divides her time illustrating children’s books – her foremost love – and teaching Art in adult education. She attended Falmouth College of Art and Design as a mature student, once her daughter had flown the nest. She graduated in June 2000 with a BA (Hons) in Illustration.
Susanna Moores
Susanna Moores lives in Greenwich, London, England with her husband Stephen, close to the Royal Park she frequented as a child, racing amongst the trees with her brother, searching for the biggest, glossiest conker nut! Susanna loves to travel the world experiencing different cultures and landscapes and has spent considerable time in Australia and her family home country of New Zealand. After an initial career in photography, Susanna returned to her original childhood love of creating picture books and Graduated with a Masters in Children’s book illustration from the Cambridge School of Art. Susanna also often exhibits her drawings, etchings and watercolours throughout the UK.
Polly Noakes
Polly grew up in a busy creative household in Cambridge. She was the youngest of three sisters, who spent their days drawing, making books and staging plays and ballets. Her love of illustration blossomed at Cambridge School of Art some years ago and recently she returned to study on the MA in Children’s Book Illustration. Polly lives in the New Forest with her family and rescued Romanian street dog Bertie. The forest is a constant inspiration for her stories. On her walks Polly finds many of the items she uses for texture in her illustrations.
Carolina Rabei
Carolina’s childhood memories are of endless happy hours spent drawing, and of listening to her brother’s exciting bedtime stories. While studying Graphics and Fine Art she realized that she had a passion for illustrating stories, so enrolled on the MA course in Children’s Book Illustration
at Cambridge School of Art.
Roozeboos
Roozeboos, or Anne Roos Kleiss as you might know her in daily life, tries to look at the world with a childlike curiosity - something reflected in her artist name, which was also her nickname as a kid. When she is not sitting behind her desk, she can be found set up on a street corner with her sketchbook, capturing the world around her. This is also how she came up with the idea for Choices, while drawing on a summery day by the pool, sitting next to her sister. After finishing her MA in Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art, she moved back to her favorite city Rotterdam, where she shares a studio space with a group of female artists above an arts and crafts shop.
Jemima Sharpe
Jemima Sharpe was born in Cambridge. She grew up in a household with three cats who occasionally joined her for tea parties, and mostly slept through them. She studied fashion design at London College of Fashion. She has been a cocktail waitress, a shop girl at London’s oldest vintage shop, Steinberg & Tolkien, and a fashion design assistant. Jemima rekindled her love of drawing on the Children’s Book Illustration MA course at Cambridge School of Art. Here she found the print room and, with technical advice from John Williams, began making screen prints for Mr Moon Wakes Up. She won the 2013 Sebastian Walker Award for New Talent in Illustration.
Jessica Shepherd
Jessica Shepherd graduated from University College Falmouth with a Degree in Illustration. Now she writes and illustrates, alongside many other exciting and challenging adventures. Jessica has varied experiences of working as a carer. She has a special interest in helping people live happy lives, and wants her books to do the same. She grew up with her brother and sister, and remembers collecting worms for mud pies, as well as making perfume from flower petals and vinegar!
Jess Stockham
Jess grew up in a large family in a small village a few miles north of London. As a child she loved making stuff, drawing and painting, riding her bike, and generally messing about. After a few ups and downs and lucky breaks, she somehow became a full-time illustrator in the 1990s. She has since gone on to win the 2008 Early Years Award and has illustrated more than fifty books for children. In 2012 Jess took time out to complete a fine art degree, and is now returning to illustration with her first author-illustrated picture book, The Big Red Rock. She continues making stuff, drawing and painting and has recently bought a bike.
Phoebe Swan
Phoebe grew up in London, making things. Encouraged by the 'make it yourself!' attitude of her family, she helped her dad turn scrap wood into artworks and made her first illustrated book at the age of five. She has been drawing stories ever since. Phoebe studied BA Illustration at Camberwell College of Arts, and later, MA Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. Phoebe currently teaches Illustration and Graphics at Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts. When at home, she loves a good DIY project. She lives in London with her partner Keith, their son, a friendly cat and a large collection of spider plants.
Carol Thompson
Carol Thompson is an English author/illustrator living in a small town in the middle of England. Her childhood was spent in the East Anglian Fens, a wild landscape of flatland, water and huge skies. As a child she cycled everywhere - and still does! She graduated with a BA in textile design, and worked as an illustrator in a small studio, eventually finding her place in the wonderful world of children's picture books. Carol is now the illustrator and in some cases the author/illustrator of more than sixty books. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages, including Lebanese and two indigenous Sioux languages, Dakota and Ojibwe. Somewhere in between she also raised three sons.