Hamish Vigne Christie "Korky" Paul (born 1951) is a British illustrator of children's books. He was born and raised in Rhodesia, but now lives in Oxford, England. His work, characteristically executed with bright watercolour paint and pen and ink, is recognisable by an anarchic yet detailed style and for its "wild characterisation". He is most known for his illustration of the series Winnie the Witch.[1]
Biography
Paul giving a lecture on illustrating children's books
Paul was born in 1951 into a family of seven children in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) where he had what he calls "a wild and privileged childhood" in the African Bushveld.[2]
He went to Estcourt High School[3] before graduating from Durban School of Art in 1972 and working at an advertising agency in Cape Town.[4] In 1976 he travelled to Greece where he met James Watt, then working for a Greek publisher who commissioned Paul to illustrate a series of educational books teaching Greek children to speak the 'Queen's English'.
He then spent some time working in an advertising agency in London and Los Angeles, and then studied film animation under Jules Engel at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. His first children's book was a pop-up called The Crocodile and the Dumper Truck published in 1980, with paper engineering by Ray Marshall.
In 1986 Paul met the editor, Ron Heapy, at Oxford University Press, who looked at his work and commissioned him to draw several pictures for a short book about a witch written by Valerie Thomas as part of OUP's Reading Tree programme.[5] Paul liked the story enough to turn it into a complete picture book. Although this was not strictly within Paul's brief, Heapy nevertheless presented it to the OUP delegates. The resulting book, Winnie the Witch, went on to win the Red House Children's Book Award in 1988 and has since been published in over 10 languages.[6] Paul's illustrations for this are full of visual jokes and witty detail.[7] Since then he has illustrated a further nineteen Winnie the Witch titles that have sold over 7 million copies.[5][1][6]
Of Paul's contribution to the success of Winnie and Wilbur, Helen Mortimer of OUP writes, "Winnie is such a loved character. It's partly because the artwork is so distinctive and detailed; there is so much to pour over in every single spread."[6] Of his illustration of Winnie in the books, Paul told the Telegraph: "I didn't want witchy colours... I love throwing in colour, it makes me feel like Jackson Pollock."[1]
Three of Paul's picture books have been adapted for CD-ROM; The Fish Who Could Wish which won the European Multi-Media Award (EMMA) in 1995,[8]Dragon Poems and Winnie the Witch.
His anarchic yet detailed work, executed with bright watercolour paint and pen and ink, is distinguished by its "wild characterisation".[9] It has been compared to Tom and Jerry cartoons, and also to the artists Ronald Searle and Ralph Steadman.
He has original artwork on display at The Mazza Collection Galleria, University of Findlay, Findlay, Ohio, US.
Paul lives in Oxford and is married to the artist Susan Moxley. Together they have two children, Oska and Zoë.[6]
Describing the technical details of his work he says: "I use an Apple Mac, Schminke watercolours, Caran d'Ache pencil crayons (with electric sharpener), Saunders Waterford paper 190gm3 [sic], black kandahar and coloured inks with a dip pen, toothbrush, porcupine quills, and my trusty left hand."[9]
In 2015/2016, he was the 7th most borrowed illustrator in UK public libraries.[10]
Partial bibliography
Written and Illustrated
The Big Book (Methuen) 1985
The Fat Book (Methuen) 1985
The Thin Book (Methuen) 1985
The Coconut Feast, Orbis (London, England), 1985.
Adventures with the Creep, Orbis (London, England), 1985.
The Special Romance, Orbis (London, England), 1985.
The Fruit Salad Tangle, Orbis (London, England), 1985.
