DAron parton
Illustrator of the endpapers
I was born in Aden in Yemen. We moved to Singapore then onto Germany where I did my primary and secondary education. I went to my first art school at Canterbury in England then to do a degree at Central St Martins School of Art where I graduated with a BA (hons). I worked as an illustrator from then on. I moved to NZ in 1995 with my beautiful Kiwi wife; we have two boys Ollie and Rhys. I have illustrated books for a number of different publishers, including Gecko Press in New Zealand, Walker Books in the UK and Sterling in the USA. I also illustrate for advertising, packaging and animation.
When I was eleven we lived in Dortmund, Germany. Dad was a teacher for the British Forces Education Service. We lived in quarters on a camp (Suffolk Barracks ) which was the size of a village. The school was situated next to the camp. Buses used to come in from different camps around our area with more British children.
We didn’t have computer games or British television until later when got British forces television. We played down the back of our gardens in big trees, made suits of armour out of cardboard, played kick the can in the garages and in the winter went sledging down the huge cemetery next to the school. We had heaps of snow. At Christmas Germany has wonderful Christmas markets. During summer holidays Dad hitched the caravan and we travelled all over Europe.
Music that I really like: The Specials, Madness and The Jam.