Illustrator Nominee: Canada

Pierre Pratt
Canada, Illustrator

Pierre Pratt, born in February 1962, grew up in the suburbs of Montreal and now divides his time between Quebec and Portugal. Even as a very young child he loved to draw and was fascinated by pictures, especially those in his favourite comic book series 'The Adventures of Tintin'. Even as a teenager he produced his own comic books, so when he completed his course in graphic art, a career as a comic strip artist was an obvious choice. Initially, he created comic strips for the magazines Titanic and Croc, and in 1985 he produced his first book, Le Frigo.To date he has illustrated more than 60 picturebooks. He also works as a commercial illustrator but acknowledges that his heart is in children's books. For some of his books he has created the text himself, and for others he has worked with some highly regarded authors. He also illustrates book covers, and recently he has served as the principal illustrator for the Little Red Riding Hood exhibition at the Children's Department of the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales de Quebec.

Pratt's style is distinctive, characterised by thick black lines, brilliant colour and characters that bend, stretch and contort themselves into all sorts of shapes. This brings a quirky, sometimes bizarre quality to his work, serving to emphasise the characteristics of those who people his pages and intensifying action and events as they unfold. Humour permeates his books, sometimes subtly, endearing them to children and adults internationally. He frequently uses oil pastels and acrylic paints, and likes to play with and distorts perspective to achieve an absurd effect. Pascale Grenier writes of him: 'Pierre claims he is always thinking of the children when he illustrates children's books. He caresses them with his brush; each stroke is like a fleeting embrace.'

More than 40 children's books have been illustrated by Pierre Pratt. His work is available in many countries and has been widely recognised and honoured. As well as being three-times winner of Canada's Governor General's Award, he has received the Golden Plaque and the Pomme d'Or from the Bienniale of Illustration of Bratislava and the first ever UNICEF Prize for Illustrator of the Year at the Bologna Book Fair.