Meet the author

Richard Jones.

Illustrator · United Kingdom

A British illustrator with a soft, glowing, atmospheric style, behind gentle picture-book fables like The Seed of Doubt and nature titles such as Bird Builds a Nest.

Richard Jones is a British illustrator who grew up in the Midlands, studied illustration at the University of Plymouth and settled in Devon. Working in soft, glowing textures and muted, atmospheric colour, he has illustrated a long list of picture books for other writers, including Bird Builds a Nest and Squirrels' Busy Year by Martin Jenkins, and two tender collaborations with screenwriter Irena Brignull, The Child of Dreams and The Seed of Doubt (2021). The latter turns the everyday experience of self-doubt into a gentle, hopeful fable, a boy whose dreams shrink as a mysterious tree grows, until his father helps him find the courage to climb, and Jones's quiet, luminous artwork is exactly suited to its reassuring mood. A dependable interpreter of thoughtful, emotionally gentle stories for younger children.