Freelance children’s book illustrator
Hi, I’m Melanie Williamson, a freelance children’s book illustrator based in Manchester, UK.
Over the last twenty years 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.
Cover design for ‘Pirate Pete’s Potty’
I’m currently working on the multi-book series Billy and the Mini Monsters for Usborne Publishing, nine of which have been published so far, the latest of which is ‘Monsters Go Camping’.
Cover design for ‘Monsters Go Camping’
“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
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.
For Books, I’m represented by Heather Richards at Tall Bean.