Freelance children’s book illustrator
Hi, I’m Melanie Williamson, a freelance children’s book illustrator based near Manchester, UK.
With over 25-years’ experience, I’ve illustrated over 50 published books using both hand-painted and digital styles.
The most famous of which is undoubtedly the Pirate Pete and Princess Polly series for potty-training tots.
Cover design for ‘Pirate Pete’s Potty’
I’m currently working on the multi-book series Billy and the Mini Monsters for Usborne Publishing, seventeen of which have been published so far, the latest of which is ‘Monsters Go Back to School’, and which are based on a more cartoon and panel-led style, created for older children.
“Melanie is a fantastic illustrator. She brings huge amounts of humour to each project and so much life to the characters. I love her Mini Monsters!”
Zanna Davidson, author of Billy and the Mini Monsters
Crop from a page of ‘Monsters Go to School’, the second book in the series
Double-page spread from ‘Monsters Go Party’
Check out some of my other books, including picture books, or the ‘Animal Stories’ series I did for Barefoot Books.
Hand-painted double-page spread from ‘That Pesky Dragon’
Hand-painted ‘Masha the Bear’ (Animal Stories)
“Melanie is an absolute pleasure to work with. I commissioned her for several projects at Barefoot Books and she was always a consummate professional, meeting deadlines, adapting ideas and doing her level best to deliver top-quality work. I warmly recommend her.”
Tessa Strickland (Barefoot Books)
Publishing clients include: Barefoot Books, Cambridge University Press, Harper Collins, Hodder Children's, Egmont, Ladybird Books, Oxford University Press, Pearson Education and Usborne Publishing.
Please get in touch if there’s a children’s book illustration or character design project you’d like to discuss 🙂
