Ted Dewan

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Ted Dewan is a UK-based American cartoonist, born in 1961 in Boston, Massachusetts, and is one of the UK’s best-known children’s authors and illustrators. He is married to fellow-illustrator Helen Cooper.

Contents

[edit] Life

Ted Dewan grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, and had musical and artistic aspirations from a young age. He studied engineering and electronic music at Brown University, Rhode Island before working for five years as a Physics teacher at Milton Academy.[1] As well as his Science duties at Milton Academy, Dewan directed various musical shows.[2]

In 1988, his British girlfriend inspired him to relocate to London, where he began to make a living as a full-time illustrator and cartoonist, drawing for british newspapers such as The Times (and The Times Educational Supplement), The Guardian, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph.[3] In his spare time, he performed a solo accordion act on London's comedy circuit, to mixed and "misunderstood" reviews at such venues as The Comedy Store and Hackney Empire. He found appreciation for his artwork and his music in fellow illustrator/author Helen Cooper and the two were subsequently married.[4]

Dewan is most noted for having worked with science-writer Steve Parker on a number of highly-praised (and award-winning) Children's non-fiction volumes in which Dewan's pen and ink and watercolor artwork complimented "Parker's examination of the morphology of the world's largest mammals," concurrently he illustrated a couple of adult non-fiction tomes, by Dr. Robert Ornstein.[5][6]

Dewan next turned his hand to writing as well as illustrating, producing in 1994 a version of The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Scholastic), which Books for Keeps' Pam Harwood praised both for Dewan's "'cool' language" and "bright, lively pictures."[7] A number of other solo writing/illustrating projects have followed since, in particular the Bing Bunny series.

Becoming a father in 1998 (to daughter Pandora), he decided to focus his time more thoroughly to writing and illustrating books, although still contributes occasional bookreviews and illustrations to the TES, and has also produced "soundtracks" for "most of his picture books".[8] These he combines with slides of artwork, and presents as Magic Lantern shows in schools and at festivals around the country, with intentions to release some commercially, and showcase them on his website WormWorks.com.[9]

Dewan and Cooper moved from London to Oxford in 2001, where they live "a short bike ride" away from David Fickling Books, with whom Dewan works closely.[10] Oxford-based His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman gave Dewan:

"..[Pullman's] famous shed in 2002, with the covenant agreed that only creative work in it, and that the shed was to be passed on to another artist, writer, or musician when the time came, if it hadn't turned to dust in the meantime."[11]

In recent years, Dewan has experimented with three-dimensional artwork, particularly 2004's Cyclemas Tree, "a 20-foot 1.5 tonne illuminated Christmas Tree made of derelict bicycles and scaffolding."[12] More recently still, his work has eatured in books related to the BBC comedy panel game television quiz show QI (Quite Interesting), created and produced by John Lloyd, hosted by Stephen Fry, and featuring permanent panellist Alan Davies. In particular, he contributed "400 diagrams and cartoons" to The Book of Animal Ignorance, and various illustrations to The QI "E" Annual (or The QI Annual 2007), both published by Faber and Faber in 2007.[13]

[edit] Awards and roles

Dewan won a Mother Goose Award in 1992 for his illustrations in Inside the Whale & Other Animals, which was also shortlisted for the 1992 TES Information Award.[14] In 1997, his work The Sorcerer's Apprentice was shortlisted for the Kurt Maschler Award, and listed on the Young Book Trust 100 Best Books list.[15]

He is a member of the Society of Authors, and former chairman of their Children's Writers and Illustrators Group. He is also a member of the Royal Institution.[16]


[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Author and Illustrator

[edit] Bing Bunny

  • Bing Bunny: Bing Get Dressed (David Fickling Books 2003)
  • Bing Bunny: Bing Paint Day (David Fickling Books 2003)
  • Bing Bunny: Bing Bed Time (David Fickling Books 2003)
  • Bing Bunny: Bing Something for Daddy (David Fickling Books 2003)
  • Bing Bunny: Bing Go Picnic (David Fickling Books 2004)
  • Bing Bunny: Bing Make Music (David Fickling Books 2004)
  • Bing Bunny: Bing Swing (David Fickling Books 2004)
  • Bing Bunny: Bing Yuk (David Fickling Books 2004)

[edit] Illustrator

[edit] Children's non-fiction

[edit] Children's fiction

[edit] Adult non-fiction

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Images of Delight. Accessed February 7, 2008
  2. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Images of Delight. Accessed February 7, 2008
  3. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Images of Delight. Accessed February 7, 2008
  4. ^ Helen Cooper biography at Workworks. Accessed February 7, 2008
  5. ^ Helen Cooper biography at Workworks. Accessed February 7, 2008
  6. ^ Ted Dewan bibliography at WormWorks. Accessed February 7, 2008
  7. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Answers.com. Accessed February 7, 2008
  8. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Images of Delight. Accessed February 7, 2008
  9. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Images of Delight. Accessed February 7, 2008
  10. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Images of Delight. Accessed February 7, 2008
  11. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Images of Delight. Accessed February 7, 2008
  12. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Images of Delight. Accessed February 7, 2008
  13. ^ Animal Ignorance at the QI Shop. Accessed February 5, 2008
  14. ^ Faber and Faber's new books catalogue, July - December 2007, page 18. Accessed February 6, 2008
  15. ^ The Sorcerer's Apprentice at WorkWorks. Accessed February 7, 2008
  16. ^ Ted Dewan biography at Answers.com. Accessed February 7, 2008

[edit] External links


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