David Melling
Illustrator: mentor in 2025
David Melling illustrated his first children’s book in 1993. He first wrote and illustrated his own picture book, The Kiss That Missed in 2002, which was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal. He’s been shortlisted for many other awards including the Smarties Book Award, and he won the Sheffield Children’s Book Award 2023 with Ruffles and the New Green Thing. To date, he has created over 150 books, publishing in over 30 languages, selling over 5 million copies. Hugless Douglas is one of David’s most popular picture book series.
“When Ryo and I met, she’d already created some great material to work with, so for her it was about refining the ideas she had and building a structure on which to bring together the right elements for her picture book. We started the process by asking what she wanted most out of the sessions; identifying her strengths and weaknesses and laying out a clear path to tackle the points one step at a time. Happy with the existing characters she’d designed, Ryo focused on story with some playful drawing sequence exercises to tease out her ideas further and help explore how her characters best contribute to the overall narrative. Ryo responded really well to every step of the process. She was open to new ways of working and getting the most out of every session with commitment and patience. It was a complete joy working with her throughout our time together.”
