Mark NicholasMark Nicholas was born and brought up near York. He was artistic from an early age and studied modelmaking at the University of Bournemouth. He began working as a modelmaker after graduating, but always had a love of children's picture books, inspire by Mick Inkpen's Kipper and a short stint as a playground designer. After a successful career which included working on the CBBC stop-motion animation 'Rubbadubbers', in 2012 he decided to seek a career in illustration and gained a place on the MA Children's Book Illustration Course at Cambridge School of Art. Whilst studying on the course, Mark won the Hachette Children's Group's Carmelite Prize for Illustration to illustrate Tantrum O'Furrily, by Cressida Cowell, as well as the Macmillan Lara Jones Award. When not illustrating children's books, you'll find Mark wandering the fields of Wales with his wife and daughter, picking up inspirational textures for his illustrations. Read More Read Less