Children's Book Illustration

I'm currently studying for an MA at Cambridge School of Art. This page shows pieces from the course — which I'll add to as I progress — as well as older work.

Edward Hopper and the Carrot Crunch

The global financial meltdown featuring rabbits! Download the whole book (6MB PDF)

Edward Hopper and the Carrot Crunch cover: a children's picture book story about rabbits and the global financial meltdown Windy Day, a children's story: Illustration of a boy flying a kite and gets blown away. Edward Hopper and the Carrot Crunch: a children's picture book story about rabbits and the global financial meltdown Edward Hopper and the Carrot Crunch: five pound note illustration.

Windy Day

The four pictures below are from a wordless story called Windy Day for which I received a highly commended in the Macmillan Prize 2009.

Windy Day, a children's story: Illustration for cover Windy Day, a children's story: Illustration of a boy flying a kite and gets blown away. Windy Day, a children's story: Illustration of a man with ice cream in his face. Windy Day, a children's story: Illustration of a man on the toilet with the roof of his house blown off.

Grandad's Ashes

I wrote this story as a way of helping children come to terms with bereavement, deliberately without resorting to religion or the supernatural. Each of the four kids visits a place that has a special memory of their grandfather. The story is ultimately about renewal and memory.

Grandad's Ashes, a children's story: Illustration of children in a hot air balloon. Grandad's Ashes, a children's story: Illustration of children by a garage in the snow on a busy road.

Going back a bit

When I was studying graphic design I wrote a children's story about little characters whose jobs were to paint things the colour they are. Well, one day the green character goes missing and... well, I think you can guess the rest. This is one of the pictures — gouache I think.

children's book illustration of a character painting an apple green

Educational

I used to work for an educational software company where I got the chance to illustrate some workbooks and catalogues.

This one was a cover for some software to accompany a BBC series. It used scenarios involving nursery rhyme characters to teach numeracy.

BBC Numbertime: Illustration of nursery rhyme characters in a maze.

Below: A cover illustration for a catalogue, showing a child doing something from each subject in the curriculum.

Illustration of a classroom full of children

© Copyright Mike Smith 2010. Images may be used on other sites if credited and linked back. Please contact me for print usage.