Jill Barton

Original picture book artwork by Jill Barton is available for purchase from Children’s Book Illustration.

Jill has drawn since childhood and when she left school in 1956, she contacted the Manchester School of Art hoping to forge a career in illustrating children’s books. However, there were no courses specialising in illustration back then and her dream, although never forgotten, was put on hold. Twenty eight years and three grown-up children later, she was back in the same building to start a degree course in illustration. Jill loved every minute of being a mature student and later taught on the same course for five years.

Jill has worked with many brilliant authors including Martin Waddell, on four full colour picture books and also with Dick King-Smith on two fiction titles about ‘Lady Lollipop’ which gave Jill the opportunity to illustrate in black & white. Illustrating children’s books has been a life changing career for Jill. Her first trip to London was for the Macmillan Prize for students, shortlisted with her book Dreamwalker. She was highly commended for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal for The Pig in the Pond. She flew to America, a whirlwind 3 day trip, to collect The Boston Globe Horn Book Award for In the Rain with Baby Duck, and she was highly recommended for The Sheffield Children’s Book Award for Rattletrap Car.

The real ‘wow’ factor for Jill, something that never fails to delight her, is that her work sits on bookshelves, to be opened, held, enjoyed and hopefully loved by children in many different countries. The stories may need translating, but the pictures speak for themselves.