Tony Ross

Born in London on this day (1938), Tony Ross is an illustrator, cartoonist and graphic designer. He studied at the Liverpool School of Art and Design.

Once you get to art school you realise what a tremendous amount of opportunity there is in advertising and all forms of design. An interesting drawing can lead to fashion design or architecture, animation, all sorts of things which aren't evident when you first pick up a pencil or a piece of chalk and do your first drawing.

When Ross left art school he went into adverstising and stuck at it for years. From advertising he went into lecturing at Manchester Polytechnic (1965-1972) and then became a senior lecturer in illustration (1972-1985) and then left to become a full-time writer and illustrator.

I don’t relax. My main relaxation is meeting illustrators and publishers in restaurants and bars.

He is best known as an illustrator and author of children's picture books - writing and illustrating his Little Princess books and for illustrating the Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon, both of which have become TV series based on his artwork. Ross also illustrates the works of David Walliams. A highly prolific artist, he has worked on in excess of 2,500 projects, providing illustrations for a wide range of authors including Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl.

When I was drawing the Secret Seven if the human beings are reasonably accurate then the dog has got to be reasonably accurate too so you've got to count it's knees! I can draw Horrid Henry with my eyes shut now, it still takes time because a lot of the books have to be coloured. 

In 2004 he was the UK nominee for the biennial Hans Christian Anderson Award for his contribution as a children's illustrator.

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