posted on 15 Apr 2016

David Roberts

I was lucky enough to be at a conference a few years ago where David Roberts was one of the star attractions. His enthusiastic and informative presentation was as quirky, funny and energetic as his illustrations.  He talked quite a lot about his childhood and early influences on his artistic development. He enjoyed being read to by his older brother with The Far Away Tree and The Wishing Chair by Enid Blyton and Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl  amongst his favourites. He still treasures the first book that he ever read by himself, A Hole is to Dig by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by one of his picture book heroes and enduring influences, Maurice Sendak. Describing himself as a very creative child who worried about everything, Roberts certainly did not enjoy secondary school apart from art lessons. He only really blossomed when he left to go to college in Manchester to study fashion design.

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Whilst a student, he became interested in children’s book illustration but his first job was as a milliner in Hong Kong and during this time he also did some illustration for fashion magazines. His expert eye for fashion, design, film, music and cultural references in general remain an impressive component in all of his books. Returning to England after one year, he eventually illustrated the first of over seventy subsequent books: Frankie Stein's Robot by Roy Apps. His huge output to date includes working in collaboration with well- known authors like Philip Ardagh, Chris Priestley and Julia Donaldson.

He has also produced some wonderfully original retellings of traditional fairy tales with his sister Lynn. For instance their sumptuous version of Cinderella: An Art Deco Love Story is set in the 1920s and therefore packed full of relevant ornaments, detailed interior design and period clothes. The unusual background to their Rapunzel: A Groovy Fairy Tale is the 1970s where the princess lives in a tower block and wears platform shoes and leg warmers.

Two of my favourites from his wide range of books that have a similar overall design are the very witty Rosie Revere, Engineer and Iggy Peck Architect where he acknowledges the influence of David Hockney, his favourite artist.

He uses a wide range of media in his work including watercolour, ink, pen, pencil, crayon and pastel. I particularly admire his black and white illustrations where it is clear to see that he draws inspiration from Edward Gorey, Aubrey Beardsley and Gustave Dore, the close study of whose work he explains has helped him to understand the complex relationship between line and tone. I think that the strange and curiously peopled world of Gorey is one that he really understands and is comfortable with. His prolific work is a joy to collect and so I hope that he will continue to dazzle and amaze his many fans long into the future.

Karen Argent

11th April 2016

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