Name: Trevor Pye
Date of birth: 13 May, 1952
Place of birth: Te Awamutu
Now living in: Tauranga
- What is your favourite food?
- Organic chicken salad.
- What was your most embarrassing moment?
- Once I was standing in a crowd of people and I realized I had no pants on- no one else seemed to notice but I was totally shamed out. - Then I woke up. Lucky it was a dream.
- How do you relax?
- Playing guitar, lying down, reading a good book.
- Who inspired you when you were little?
- Mostly the artists in MAD magazine.
- What were you like at school?
- Extremely handsome and a good student. I did seem to get into trouble a bit - but I’m sure it was never my fault.
- What was your favourite/most hated subject at school?
- Favourite: Art
Most hated: Maths - What was the book you most loved as a child?
- There were very few books in my home as a child - I didn’t really have a favourite.
- Which person from the past would you most like to meet?
- The German sculptor Joseph Bevys.
- Who is your favourite author/children’s author?
- Favourite author : Roald Dahl. My favourite illustrators are Ron Brooks, Quentin Blake, Tony Ross, J. Otto Seibold.
- Why did you want to be an illustrator?
- Because I love drawing, painting and illustrating.
- Do you have a special place where you illustrate your books?
- I write and illustrate in my studio.
- What’s the best thing and worst thing about being an illustrator?
- The best thing is seeing my work in print.
The worst thing is sometimes publishers don’t pay you for a long, long time. - If you weren’t an illustrator, what would you like to be?
- A painter or sculptor.
What advice would you give to aspiring illustrators?- Keep practising - read and look at lots of work by other writers and illustrators. Write and illustrate the things you love rather than what other tell you to write or illustrate.
- Read some books written by Trevor Pye