Meet the author

Charles Vess.

Illustrator · United States · b. 1951

Charles Vess: American illustrator behind Rose (with Jeff Smith), Le Guin's Catwings and Gaiman's Stardust — watercoloury, European-folk-art literary illustration for ages 8+.

Charles Vess is an American illustrator born in 1951, best known to comic-book readers as the visual partner on Neil Gaiman's Stardust (adult fantasy) and to children's-book readers as the illustrator of Rose, the prequel novel-in-pictures to Jeff Smith's Bone, and of Ursula K. Le Guin's Catwings books. Vess's style is loose-lined, watercoloury, in the European-folk-art and mid-century-children's-book illustration tradition. World Fantasy Award winner. A core literary-illustration voice for ages 8+ and adult readers across both comics and children's-book illustration.