Robin Lawrie - Designer

Freelance illustrator/ author. I have worked over many busy years for all the major UK and several US, Australian and Canadian publishers specialising in illustrating children's historical, folk tales and fantasy books. I have also abridged, designed and illustrated two graphic novels in the 'Narnia' series - 'The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe', and 'The Magician's Nephew'. I have also done many book jackets over a long career and illustrated many primary text books for the African, Caribbean and Middle Eastern market for Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Pearson's. I have also written and illustrated 18 mini graphic novels for Evans Brothers in 'The Chain Gang' series.
I worked closely with C.S. Lewis' stepson, Douglas Gresham while producing my graphic novel version of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' and 'The Magician's Nephew'. It was important to him to respect his stepfather's text since I was the only person who at that point had ever been allowed to do so. Illustration as a rule is a solitary profession so working collaboratively with an author can be very stimulating. I have found however that publishers don't really welcome author's input on book jackets since that is a marketing excercise more than a literary one. For a while there I specialised in illustrating cookery books with celebrity authors (probably unknown outside the UK) Wendy Craig, Prue Leith and Delia Smith were just three of them. It was fun and as I recall, cakes and cookies were involved!