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Christyan Fox
…is a freelance illustrator and writer living in Thames Ditton, UK. He creates children's books – both with and without his wife Diane – as well as packaging design, graphics, magazines and advertising.

Diane Fox
…was a senior graphic designer with London design consultants Minale Tattersfield for twelve years. She now works with Christyan in creating children's books.

Together
…they are a multi-award winning author and illustrator team. Over the last 26 years Christyan and Diane have created more than 46 children's books as well 22 educational books and stories for the BBC. They also run various courses and workshops on creating children's books. They live in Thames Ditton, UK, and are the parents of three children - one of whom is severely disabled with Angelman Syndrome.


Books written and illustrated by Diane and Christyan Fox
Dinosaur Baby Gullane 2013
Snip and Snap – On and Off Orchard/Hachette 2012
Snip and Snap – One or Two Orchard/Hachette 2012
Snip and Snap – Rain or Shine Orchard/Hachette 2011
Snip and Snap – Red or Blue Orchard/Hachette 2011
Bet the Vet Gullane/Meadowside 2011
Delivery Man Stan Macmillan 2010
WheelyWorld-Ratty Patty Egmont 2009
WheelyWorld-Big Tow Joe Egmont 2009
WheelyWorld-Enzo Egmont 2008
WheelyWorld-Monty Egmont 2008
Little Tom and the Trip to the Moon Gullane/Meadowside 2008
Tyson the Terrible! Bloomsbury Press 2006 Jungle Street Hide and Seek Campbell Books 2005
Around the World PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2002
Pirate PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2002
What colour is that? PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2001
Count to ten, PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2001
What shape is that? PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2001
What's the opposite? PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2001
Spaceman PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2001
Bathtime PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2000
Cat and Mouse - the Hole story Little Tiger 2000
Fireman PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 2000
Goodnight PiggyWiggy Little Tiger 1999 Award winning
Tilly Tote, Build a Boat! Walker 1996
Shipwreck! Shape Puzzle Book Walker 1995
Top Secret! Shape Puzzle Book Walker 1995
The Black Hat Gang Shape Puzzle Book Walker 1994
Creepy Castle Shape Puzzle Book Walker 1994
Santa's Crazy Christmas Walker 1993


Books illustrated by Christyan Fox with other authors
Creaky Castle: (with Jane Clarke) Simon & Schuster 2010
Wind-Up Pirate Ship (with Louie Stowell) Usborne 2009
Bopping Big Band: (with Sean Taylor) Scholastic 2008
Farmer Fred, Get Out of Bed! Scholastic 2008
Emergency, Rescue! (Jonathan Emmett) Macmillan 2008
Dig It, Build It! (with Jonathan Emmett) Macmillan 2007 Award winning
Zoom! (with Jonathan Emmett) Macmillan 2005
One Clever Creature (with Joseph Ellis) Piccadilly Press 2006
Pirate Adventures (with Russell Punter) Usborne 2006
How many Sharks in the Bath? (Bill Gilham) Frances Lincoln 2005
Traffic Jamboree (with Sue Nicholson) Campbell Books 2003 Award winning
Stories of Pirates (with Russell Punter) Usborne 2003
Milly's Golden Goal (with Harriet Castor) Viking 1997
Milly of the Rovers (with Harriet Castor) Viking 1996
The Burglar's Breakfast (Felicity Everett) Usborne 1995


Educational books illustrated by Christyan Fox with other authors
Usborne – Beginners Trains 2011
Usborne – Why Should I Keep Fit? 2008
Usborne – First Pets: Gerbils 2005
Usborne – Beginners Rubbish and Recycling 2005
Usborne – First Pets: Guinea Pigs 2005
Usborne – Beginners Firefighters 2004
Usborne – Beginners Trucks 2002
Usborne – Beginners Farm Animals 2003
Usborne – Beginners Living in Space 2002
Usborne – First Pets: Rabbits 1999
Usborne – A Visitor's Guide to Ancient Rome 1999
Usborne – First Pets: Dogs & Puppies 1998
Usborne – First Pets: Cats & Kittens 1998
Usborne – Understanding Your Body 1998 Award winning
Usborne – Understanding Your Senses 1997
Usborne – Understanding Your Muscles and Bones 1996
Usborne – Understanding Your Brain 1995
Oxford Reading Tree – Mum's new car 1991
Oxford Reading Tree – The Village show 1988
Oxford Reading Tree – Kate's Garden 1988
Oxford Reading Tree – Kate and the Sheep 1987
Oxford University Press – Adventures in English (series of 4 books) 1986-90


Film and TV
Christyan studied animation at BA level under Bob Godfrey and Mike Joyce.
Co-wrote scripts and produced model sheets and template drawings with Varga Studios for the pilot episode and proposed series of Goodnight PiggyWiggy, 2002.
Wrote two stories for episodes of the CBBC TV series Driver Dan's Story Train, 2011:
Doug the Most Famous Dog in the World (which I also illustrated) and Elephant Jump.


Greetings Cards
'Munchkins': Occasions range, 14 cards, Paperlink 2012
'Cool Cats & Hot Dogs': Occasions range, 18 cards, Paperlink 2012 'Cool Cats & Hot Dogs': Everyday range, 14 cards, Paperlink 2012 'The Real World': Full Everyday range, 36 cards, Leaping Snail: 1999


Awards Won
Southampton Books to Share award 2006 Southampton Books to Share award 2004 Times Educational Supplement award 2002 Stockport Schools Book Award 2001


Clients include
Oxford University Press, Walker Books, Little Tiger Press, Penguin Group, Usborne Books, Conran Octopus, Marks and Spencer, NatWest Bank, The Partners, Carrow Design, Burst Design, Superdrug, WHSmith, Sainsbury, Tesco, Hertz, BBC, R.Whites Lemonade, Lucozade, BZW, Ernst & Young, Disney, Euro Disney, Eaglemoss Magazines, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Books, Orchard Books, Gullane Children's Books, Macmillan, Egmont, Campbell Books, Scholastic, Piccadilly Press, Bloomsbury Books, Frances Lincoln, Handprint Books, Ted Smart, Koala Books.


Charity work
Christyan has been a trustee for 'ASSERT', the Angelman Syndrome UK charity (www.angelmanuk.org) from 2006. During that time he has re-designed Assert's entire media output including logo, merchandising, newsletters, website, brochures, leaflets, signage, literature, conference material etc. -

How did you meet?
We were at Middlesex University together on a BA Graphic Design Course from 1982 to 1986.

What's it like working together?
I've worked freelance from home since leaving University so have never had a conventional working environment, though Diane had a 'real' job as a senior designer in London for twelve years. Our current working relationship is ideal for us as we create story ideas together then I do the final text and all the illustrations. Diane's background as a designer is very good for working out page layouts, making dummies of new books to sell to publishers and resolving any of the paper engineering elements in our novelty books. She also has a much better grasp of business than my poor illustrator's brain can manage. The working relationship has turned out to be fortuitous in other ways as we have a son with Angelman Syndrome who requires full-time care, so a regular job away from home just wouldn't work for us.

Where do your ideas come from?
I wish I knew so that I could go back and get some more. Seriously? At the oddest times: in the bath, on my motorbike, when I'm working on something completely different, when I hear something on the radio... It can be any time. I think everyone probably has the same inspiration if they just took note of it. Working from home always makes it difficult to focus on the task in hand - too many other distractions - but deadlines and the pressure to pay the bills are the best remedies to writer's or illustrator's block.

What inspires you?
Chocolate biscuits help a lot when I'm feeling down. But workwise? I suppose it's seeing other artists' work: I was greatly influenced by the 'Ligne Claire' style of Hergé and Patrick Caulfield early in my career. Then I studied animation as part of my university course and achieving movement of line became very important to me and artists like Quentin Blake, Mel Calman and Tony Ross became influential. Cézanne has also been a strong influence in how he changed the ways of looking at an image from being purely representational... distorting the rules of perspective to suit the needs of the image. I use his techniques a lot, as do other children's book illustrators.

Were you an artistic child?
I'd like to say I was in galleries all the time, but I don't think I was taken to a gallery or exposed to 'real art' until my early teens. I spent a lot of my childhood reading comics, then re-drawing them frame by frame to work out how the stories were constructed. I also spent an unhealthy amount of time drawing cars and had a terrible dilemma over whether to become an illustrator or car designer. A poor grasp of physics and maths made the decision for me... and probably made our roads a lot safer.

Who should come on your courses?
The people I'd most like to see are those who have thrown down a children's book in contempt and said "Pah, I could do better than that!"
Many people have really great ideas for a children's book, but probably have no idea where to start. Our beginner's course starts with an overview suitable for writers or artists, then we organize the group so that people can concentrate on writing or illustrating, or combine the two. People can choose to work on their own or be inspired by what others are doing. We introduce a certain amount of structure but then let the group find its own level. You can come along with a story or character idea of your own, or we'll guide you in creating them. There's no requirement to be a great writer or artist, some terrific books have been created with no words at all and others with only stick-men figures... there's no 'right' way to do it. Full details of the various courses we offer are available on the website.

What are your favourite mediums to work with?
I still draw with the softest pencils I can work with - up to 8B - for the best line quality and scan all the line work; for me there's still no digital equivalent to the loose spontaneity you get with a pencil. I used to paint all my backgrounds with watercolour inks, then I moved to scanning large areas of paint and manipulating them, then moved wholly to producing all my colour in Photoshop a few years ago. The change was largely pragmatic; there seem to be fewer and fewer publishers who will accept anything other than digital artwork these days and it speeds up the process enormously. I used to spend a day on a painting only for a publisher to say "I don't like the colour of the train, can you change it?" That would entail another full day's painting and I'd lose something the original had, whereas digitally it's a lot easier to make changes. The only problem is the publishers know that too...

How would you describe your style?
Hmm, that's a tricky one. I think an editor recently gave the best description when she was explaining why she wanted to use me for a job. She wanted a book about kittens, but she didn't want them to be cute and fluffy... She wanted Kittens with an edge... She wanted them to move on the page and she wanted kittens with attitude. I'm not satisfied with my work unless it has some life on the page and that my characters have attitude.

What is your biggest professional achievement you are most proud of?
Probably seeing the publication of the first book that we illustrated and wrote - Goodnight PiggyWiggy - way back in 1999.

So just how many chocolate biscuits do you eat?
More than you can possibly imagine.

You can contact Christyan and Diane directly about children’s book courses or illustration for books, greetings cards, graphics, packaging, advertising, magazines - journalism or consultations on excessive chocolate biscuit consumption.


Email me            christyan (at) christyanfox dot co dot uk …can’t be too careful with all those pesky spam robots.

Telephone          0208 398 0287

Website             www.christyanfox.co.uk …but you knew that already or you wouldn’t be here… duh!


Christyan and Diane are represented by literary agent Marilyn Malin: 0207 794 6512