Early Work

I was born in Sydney, Australia on March 9th, 1953. Mine was a model boyhood. I did my homework early, marched up and down in smart uniforms and enjoyed polishing shoes and boots. I won badges and was elected to things. In between I drew a bit, but not particularly well. Later I grew a lot of hair and went to university where I drew cartoons on folder dividers and earned a degree in Social Sciences. After university I fell into books and publishing more or less by accident. I learnt to illustrate by drawing Blinky Bill books and studying English illustrators like Arthur Rackham and Ronald Searle. My First book was published in 1975 and I’ve had the great good fortune to work in children’s book publishing ever since. In other words I have never had a proper job. My studio these days seems to be the dining table in our house in the swamp by the beach in far Northern New South Wales. There is a proper studio downstairs but I get lonely there. I live in the swamp with my wife Jennifer, a dog, an antique cat and a budgie. We used to have babies but they grew into great big people and went away. Mostly I write and illustrate humour because I am such a enormously funny person, in a serious sort of way. When not working, I garden and walk with Waldo on the beach. I read many books at once and often forget to finish them.