Brief Biography
I was born in Colchester in
1958. I am an Essex Boy!
I did a degree in Fine Art
at Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic. On
completion I moved to
Bristol where I have lived for twenty six years.
I fell into Illustration by
accident really! My first job in Bristol was working for the Bristol Playbus
project as a community Arts Worker. Followed by a stint working for social
services as a carer for people with mental illness and disabilities.
I always kept drawing in my
spare time in the hope that one day I would be able to forge some sort of
artistic career.
It was by pure chance that I
met an Illustrator who suggested that I might like to attend one of the
'Association of Illustrators' regular meetings. I went along, nervously, and
introduced myself and showed some of my work. It
was suggested that my style
of drawing at the time would suit Children's
Books! And through one of
the illustrators, (Alan Snow), a meeting was arranged with Ian Butterworth who
was then Art Director at Harper/Collins.
From that important meeting
it took nearly two years to get my first commission. It was a small black and
white book. One that I don't mention because I wasn't happy with it! But it was
a start!
Other offers began to come
in and gradually I had enough work to become a self employed Children's Book
Illustrator.
I have Illustrated over 80
Books. I have been short listed for several awards for the books that I've been
involved with, which is a great feeling!
I love visiting schools all over the
country and beyond. This year I'm lucky enough to be going to the Edinburgh Book
Festival again, where I'll be working with my good friend and great author,
Vivian French. We will hopefully be introducing our new series, The Draglins! An
8 book series about very small dragons and their exploits.
Lastly I'm hoping to have
the courage to start writing my own texts. This I think is long overdue. I've
got ideas bursting out everywhere!! Whether they will be any good remains to be
seen! Watch this space.
If you would like to contact
me about work, Illustration/school bookings etc. or have any comments on my work
please email me on
chris@chris-fisher.co.uk
Best Wishes
Chris |