John Shelley was born in Birmingham UK to an Anglo-Welsh family and grew up in Sutton Coldfield. Fed on a diet of cult TV, loud music, fairy tales and model soldiers, he inexorably followed the path of imaginative graphic art.

Shelley studied at Bournville School of Art, then illustration at Manchester Polytechnic under children's illustrator Tony Ross.

From 1983 Shelley began working as a freelance illustrator in London, and by 1984 had co-founded artist's collective Facade Studios with designer Andy Royston and illustrators Jane Ray and Willie Ryan. Concurrently his interest in Ukiyo-e prints attracted him towards Japan. In 1987 he moved to Tokyo, intending to take a year off to sketch and search for the "missing link" between samurai and Sony. He's still searching today.

The intervening years have witnessed a creative outpouring of illustration for advertising and children's books. His award-winning commercial art has been used in everything from animated TV ads, poster and newspaper campaigns to character merchandising and editorial illustration, for clients ranging from Japan and the Far East to the UK, Europe and the USA.

Shelley's work for publishing follows a more elaborate vein of pen and watercolour, reflecting his belief that while advertising needs to be graphic and direct, children's books should be examined slowly and in depth. Following his first major picture book The Secret in the Matchbox (1989 Mother Goose Award runner-up), his children's illustrations have continued to gain steady recognition across the world.

When not scribbling pictures Shelley devotes his time to his wife Makiko and daughter Seren... except when he's watching cult TV, listening to loud music, reading fairy tales and playing with model soldiers.



Member of:
JAGDA (Japan Graphic Designer's Association)
SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators).
PBAA (Picture Book Artists Association)