I’ve been an illustrator for more than a quarter of a century, beginning as an illustrator for magazines and packaging (which also sometimes involved designing sweets, lollipops, and Easter eggs) and moving into full-time children’s book illustration in the mid-1990s. I get ideas for my books by thinking about the subjects that interested and appealed to me as a child, and the things that made me laugh—humor is a very important element to my work. And I love it when a publisher sets me a challenge—to create a book in an unusual format or one that makes use of a new novelty device, for example. That’s how The Foggy, Foggy Forest and What’s in the Witch’s Kitchen? both came about. With the first I was handed a dummy book of blank tracing paper pages to play with, and straightaway I thought it would work brilliantly for a story about fog. It look me an awful lot longer to work out what do with a book I was given containing flaps that could open in two ways, but eventually, after a lot of head scratching, that one turned into What’s in the Witch’s Kitchen? I think my favorite bit of creating a book is the beginning of the process; playing around with ideas on rough paper, not knowing really where I’m going but waiting for the magic moment to happen when things fall into place and I feel I’m on to something!

Three Things You Might Not Know About Me:

I share my studio with a shop mannequin called Joan, who keeps me company.I’m very good at snoozing—anywhere, any time.My favorite food is pasta with homemade pesto sauce. I could happily eat it every day!