"I love the combination of words and pictures, the way they can complement or illuminate or contradict each other"

Posy Simmonds first made her name with a popular cartoon series in The Guardian.
Readers saw themselves caricatured in her politically correct creations. But she wanted to try something new and in 1987 she started to write and illustrate children's fiction. Her works are notable for the discipline and fine tuning of the page design. They combine a razor sharp wit with merciless social observation.

Magic Word: Observation
"I don't go out drawing in the street, I just go round looking at people. I'm incredibly nosy". Telling details appear in her pictures - shoes, hairstyles, furniture and fittings - visible evidence for her sly character portraits. More

Magic tricks of her trade
"I do a lot of drawing, masses of doodling. I usually draw with my right hand, though I am ambidextrous. My style is looser with my left hand. It's the hand that does practical things like cutting out and sharpening pencils". More

Inspiration
Punch magazine
Giles the cartoonist
Pont
Ronald Searle

Films
Famous Fred

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