Stephen Michael King’s first picture book, The Man Who Loved Boxes, skyrocketed to popularity, winning the Family Award for Children’s Books in 1996. It was also short-listed in the Crichton Award for Children’s Book Illustration and has been sold around the world.
The Christmas 1996 bestseller, Beetle Soup, a collection of Australian poems and stories for children, illustrated by Stephen, was short-listed for the 1997 Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year Award.
Stephen describes drawing as something that he simply can’t live without! ‘As far back as I remember I loved to draw. All I needed was a stick and a nice patch of dirt and I was happy for hours. When I was ten years old I became partially deaf and experienced difficulty communicating with people. Drawing and dreaming became my escape …
‘I work from a small studio in my backyard surrounded by my growing forest of trees. Our house is in a tiny township near the Hawkesbury River in Sydney and we are surrounded by national park. My favourite pastime is sitting on my front step and dreaming of the veranda I will build one day.
‘I work mainly with watercolours and ink, although I do occasionally use coloured pencils. I work fast so my ideas stay fresh and my brush and linework fluid.’
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