I have been drawing since I can remember.

I grew up in Lydenburg in Mpumalanga, South Africa and was in the very privileged position of having a father who did his degree in fine arts and a mother who has a degree in music and is a music teacher.

Art and music and history and beautiful created things have always been part of my life.

My father was the principal of the local primary school and we lived on the school grounds – we had the biggest garden in the whole town...

My sister and brother are both artists and graphic designers and they are partners in a company doing museum layout and displays.

I have a very deep love and interest in children’s books and collect illustrated works as a hobby.  The ideas and images stimulate my imagination and open up worlds of wonder.

I try to attend whatever courses I can on children’s book writing and illustrating and read what I can on illustrating, writing for children, and techniques and materials for illustration. I am a second-hand bookshop fanatic and love to shop for books and graphic novels online.

I am also very lucky to have the well-known and respected illustrator Joan Rankin as my mentor and I am very grateful for her help and support.

Some of my other interests are: painting, mosaic, photography and reading.

I have worked on a wide range of published educational books including subjects like natural sciences, physical science, readers, EMS, arts & culture and mathematics. I have also worked on a wide range of corporate books and diaries including medical and CPR books.

I have created (writing and illustrating) children’s books for a wide range of age groups, from the very young reader to more advanced adventure stories and am still in the process of getting a publisher for these.

I enjoy working in different materials like watercolour, oil paint, acrylics, collage and inks as well as illustrating on computer, and like to combine materials and different mediums for interesting effects.

Yvette de Beer - 2008