Original picture book artwork by Charlotte Voake is available for purchase from Children’s Book Illustration together with one limited edition print from Eleanor Farjeon’s Elsie Piddock Skips in her Sleep.
Charlotte Voake was born in 1957 and studied art history at the University of London. She illustrated her first children’s book whilst still there beginning her career with black and white line drawings including Phillipa Pearce‘s The Way to Sattin Shore in 1983. Soon, however, she was soon doing full colour picture books. She won the National Art Library Illustration Award in 1989 for The Mighty Slide and has gone on to produce many distinguished books for very young children.
She has been shortlisted for the Kurt Maschler Emil Award four times for The Ridiculous Story of Gammer Gurton’s Needle (1989), The Best of Aesop’s Fables (1989), Caterpillar Caterpillar (1993), and Ginger (1997). She was also shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1997 and won the Nestlé Smarties Gold Award (1997) and the Sheffield Children’s Book Award. In 2002 she again won the Nestlé Smarties Award for Pizza Kittens. More recently she won the British Design and Production Award, 2007 for Hello Twins, which also won the 2006 New York Times Ten Best Illustrated Children’s Books.
Among Charlotte’s most acclaimed picture books are Ginger, it’s prequel, Ginger Finds a Home, and in 2010, Ginger and the mystery visitor. “We had a cat who lived at the bottom of our garden,” Charlotte says of her inspiration for this story. “It was a great moment when he decided to come and live with us.” More recently she has illustrated The Further Adventures of the Owl and the Pussy-cat, written by Julia Donaldson and published by Puffin Books in 2013, to great critical acclaim.
Charlotte was personally selected by the nephew of the esteemed children’s book writer Eleanor Farjeon to illustrate the delightful classic, Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep. Charlotte’s work has been exhibited widely and was included in The Magic Pencil exhibition organised by Quentin Blake and The British Council.
&url=https://www.childrensbookillustration.com/product/charlotte-voake-gg-grass-hh-house-on-the-reverse-of-this-picture-is-a-full-colour-drawing-from-mr-davies-and-the-baby/&media=https://www.childrensbookillustration.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cv_grass1-1024x543.jpg){kind=link}