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Peter Kavanagh
Children's book author and illustrator
Illustration combines the two main interests in my life - art and stories.
Illustrator of children's books
I've had over 160 books published by companies such as Penguin, Collins, Transworld, Scholastic, OUP and Franklin Watts.
My approach to illustration is as a storyteller using ideas that expand and enhance the words written by the author. I usually bring plenty of humour to the books I work on, filling the pages with strong characters, drama and emotion, plenty of action and interesting details.
I’ve written 10 books of my own, the first being “There’s a Monster Next Door!” in 1993. Most of my stories are funny. Because I believe that pictures can tell so much story I use very few words in my books. My words are like springboards to encourage the reader to dive into the pictures and discover the great, big world of the story. When I’m writing I imagine myself sitting with a child and turning the pages. Every page-turn should be a pleasure. Something should excite, amuse or impress at every moment in a short story. I always write about things that are especially interesting to me and that I would like to draw. I like the imagery of fantasy and magic with castles, dragons and spooky forests.
I began writing and drawing in school just like all children do. Unlike most children I never stopped. My first stories were drawn as comic books featuring stick men having thrilling, Tintin-style adventures. I still love those Tintin books.
The first story I illustrated was “Weedy Me” by Sally Christie published in 1989. Today I’ve illustrated over 160 books for many great authors such as Dick King-Smith, Jacqueline Wilson, Helen Cresswell, Pat Moon, Pippa Goodhart, Tony Bradman, Rose Impey, Adele Geras and many others.
In 1997 to help promote my book "The Little Prince and the Great Dragon Chase" I designed the very first Summer Reading Scheme for Norfolk County Library. They promoted this idea to other counties and now every year there are Summer Reading Schemes all around the country.
Children's book covers
The art of illustration
My illustrations enrich the telling of an author's story and bring it vividly to life. I consider the text very carefully and create characters and background detail to enhance the ideas within the plot. I'm happy to work with self-publishing authors as well as publishers and editors and create wonderful children's books.
Illustrations affect the story’s tone of voice, can control the pace and emphasise the qualities of humour, action and drama. Even the art style of the drawings affects how the reader approaches the words – is it funny, sad, exciting or dramatic? The story’s flavour is further affected by the illustrator’s visualization of the characters. Often the words tell you very little about the appearance of a character, maybe just their name and age. The illustrator has to create people with faces, hairstyles, favourite clothes, expressions and body language.
Where characters are and what they are doing is often left up to the illustrator to decide. The author might relate a conversation between Dad and son at home. The illustrator can enrich the story at this point by showing the living room where Dad is practising his golf swings, or maybe the garage where Dad is working on his robot, or maybe the kitchen where Dad is cooking and wearing a silly apron. The illustrator can bring the characters to life by creating backgrounds for them, which reveal interests and hobbies. For example a child’s bedroom can be drawn full of toys, posters and activity.
Breaking up the words with pictures and deciding where a page turn occurs also has a big effect on the storytelling. Visual “punctuation” can create a moment of reflection or understanding before the plot continues. Variety and rhythm in the page layouts keeps the storytelling fresh and interesting.
Children's book characters
Children's book inside spreads
