A brief profile of
Tohby Riddle
in words and
pictures ...

Tohby Riddle writes and makes
picture books and cartoons
He loves doing these things.
His books include picture books
such as Nobody Owns the Moon,
The Great Escape from City Zoo,
The Singing Hat and The Royal
Guest; and cartoon books What’s
the Big Idea? and Pink Freud.

[left] Tohby enjoying a book
in the early days

More early days …

[left]"The Pharaoh dreamed that
seven fat cows came out of the
river." (from the crayon of Tohby
when about seven years old).

Tohby lives near Sydney, Australia
with his family and sometimes
entertains the idea of owning a
donkey …

In order to make the best possible
book he can, Tohby often gets
deeply involved in the story …

[left] Tohby Riddle, second from left,
and cast enjoy a meal after wrapping
The Great Escape from City Zoo.

This self portrait was done while
Tohby was illustrating
Pat the Cat and Sailor Sam
– a book that starred a cat.

A picture can be made out of just
about anything.One time, when
travelling in Florence, Italy, Tohby
found that the local coffee was
a good "paint".

[left] Facing Giotto's Campanile,
Florence, Italy. Pen and coffee,
10 cm x 15 cm.

In New York, coffee is not such a
good "paint", but scraps of paper
lying around can be used for colour
in a picture.

[left] Somewhere on the Lower East
Side, New York City. Pen, pencil
and coloured paper, 12 cm x 17 cm.

Because Tohby feels sure that his
memory isn't perfect he keeps
notebook nearby at all times. He
doesn't want to forget any ideas
that come to him so he scribbles
all kinds of things into this notebook.

[left] A sketch from Tohby's notebook