A Place to Call Home

Alexis Deacon graduated in 2001 with a first class honours degree in Illustration from the University of Brighton. Before graduating he was awarded the Burt Brill and Cardens award for the second best degree show at his University in 2000.

The urge to draw has been with Alexis as long as he can remember, ‘I’ve probably drawn compulsively since the age of 3 or 4’. Whenever he got bored playing with a particular toy as a child, rather than put it down and pick up something else as most kids would do he’d put the toy down and pick up a sketchbook to carry the game on through pictures on paper. Alexis’ favourite children’s books are Little Nemo by Winsor McCay and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. He also greatly admires the work of author/illustrators William Steig, Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs and John Burningham.

Alexis Deacon is one of Booktrust's Best New Illustrators 2008.

Viviane Schwarz was born in Germany. She studied English at university while writing fantasy stories to practice, then she moved to Cornwall, England, and got a master’s degree in Illustration. She sold her first picture book text while she was still in college. She very much liked living by the sea, and most of her books feature at least one underwater scene and lots of fish.

After moving to London Viviane started illustrating as well as writing books. Her books include There are Cats in this Book and There are No Cats in this Book (both Walker Books).

She was chosen for a Booktrust Best New Illustrators Award in 2011.

Illustration Technique

Viviane uses mixed media and precise colouring techniques to create her fun and quirky illustrations for books such as There Are No Cats in This Book. Her main aim is to inspire and encourage creativity in others through her work.