Bambi Smyth

Illustrator / Author

A trained graphic designer, Bambi Smyth worked as a designer, copy-writer and illustrator in various agencies before setting out on her own and designing T-shirts and sweatshirts for over ten years. She then starting illustrating for a company who manufactured 3-D jigsaws and cryptic puzzles, creating a complex artwork which was then ‘layered’ to give a three-dimensional effect.

She also started freelancing for various children’s book publishers and has illustrated the popular

Madhouse and Skyjinx books co-written with Meredith Costain. Wanting to generate her own projects, she spent a solid year persuing her dream of writing and illustrating her own ideas for fabulously innovative books. A few years later Tricky Mickey’s Mad Maps (Reed for Kids) was launched and have been growing steadily in popularity (120,000 copies sold in Australia) with 8 — 12 year olds and have started attracting attention in Britain.

The Mad Maps series are designed to bridge the gap between children’s books and competition in the form of interactive CD ROM’s and video games. They combine a poetic storyline, a colourful poster to cross reference, quiz’s, word games and much more. There are also geographical, historical and cartographical dynamics involved, so that children can draw upon past knowledge, and get new or more lateral information on subjects they maybe currently studying at school.

Bambi’s talks and workshops include:

• how she first got into writing and drawing
• where she gets her crazy ideas from and how Tricky Mickey was first invented
• how she researches material for her books
• how to make words and pictures work together
• how she can write poetry backwards