Erika Pal
Erika Pal was born in Budapest. She started drawing at a very young age and her dream was to become an illustrator.
In 2007 she graduation from Kingston University, London with a degree in Illustration and Animation. Whilst she was studying her picture book concepts were twice highly recommended for the Macmillan Prize. She also won the national competition for Booktrust’s Big Picture logo.
Erika has since illustrated a number of children’s books for Frances Lincoln Publishers, which have been published in the UK, US and around the world.
When she was a little girl she often travelled on her grandma’s lap on crowded buses through the Hungarian countryside, and if there were no seats she would stand at the front and demand loudly that someone give up their seat. They always did!
These experiences undoubtedly helped her to capture the energy of Joe’s overcrowded minibus in her recent collaboration with children’s book author Elizabeth Dale in ‘Off To Market’.
Erika Pal is based in London and works in illustration, printmaking and animation.
“I work with various printmaking techniques, particularly lino prints and monotypes. My other passion is experimental animation, which I explored further during my recently completed MA course in Sequential Design and Illustration at the University of Brighton, and created a series of paint-on-glass, frame-by-frame films.”
Erika Pal explains her inspiration and the process behind a poignant animation that can be viewed on her website. This is the encounter scene with the yellow flowers from the book ‘The Master and Margarita’.
Erika’s distinctive illustrations are clearly influenced by her skilful printmaking techniques.
‘I See The Moon’, ‘Azad’s Camel’, ‘Armel’s Revenge’, ‘Night Flight’ and ‘Little Lion’ are some of her titles which reflect this unique style.