Jan Ormerod obituary

Illustrator and author of books for young children with a genius for simple storytelling

• Morag Styles
• The Guardian, Sunday 3 February 2013 

A panel from Sunshine,1981, by Jan Ormerod. Frances Lincoln Publishers

The illustrator and author Jan Ormerod, who has died of cancer aged 66, brought a fresh vision to children's picturebooks with her luminous images, storytelling genius and understanding of how children behave. She was admired for her ability to cut away all that was unnecessary in her stories. Her first book, Sunshine (1981), which won the Mother Goose award, presented a wordless visual sequence, in landscape form, of a little girl starting her day. It is simplicity itself – but no one had done anything quite like it before. It was followed by Moonlight (1982), which used a similar format.

Jan Ormerod understood how children behave. Photograph: Theodora Wayte

The mother of two girls, Sophie and Laura, Jan understood what interested small children. One friend remembers taking her baby daughter to visit and Jan's pleasure in watching the child's excitement at lifting the flaps for her 1997 book Peek-a-Boo. Jan's talent for depicting babies was evident in books including 101 Things to Do With a Baby (1984) and The Story of Chicken Licken (1985); the latter featured two visual narratives – one about children performing a school play, and another about a baby crawling out of its basket at the back of the hall and then up on to the stage, to the delight of the children and the horror of its mother.

Jan Hendry was born in Bunbury, Western Australia, and grew up there with three older sisters. She was a compulsive drawer from early childhood, inspired by American comics and "beautifully drawn schoolgirl annuals from England". At art school in Perth, she learned to look closely and record honestly; she described herself as "obsessed with the human face, figure and gesture". She taught art in secondary schools and went on to lecture in a teachers' college and in art schools.

Jan married Paul Ormerod in 1971 and they moved between England and Australia for several years before settling in Cambridge in 1987. Although they divorced in 1989, Jan and Paul, always loving parents, stayed good friends, and he was a great support to her during her final illness. Cambridge was a happy time for Jan as she was only a short train ride away from her much-loved publishers at the time, Walker Books. David Lloyd was a frequent visitor, particularly between 1985 and 1987, when he edited a series of her baby books which typified the art of drawing from life, the comedy of comment and the warmth of home with what he called "the unmissable Ormerod effect".

Perhaps, even without her dazzling art work, something of this is conveyed through the words of one of those little baby books, Dad's Back (1985), which is so pared down, yet conveys so much: "Dad's back with jangling keys, warm gloves, a cold nose, a long, long scarf and apples in a bag. Dad's back with a game, a chase and a tickle."
We became good friends in Cambridge and she was a regular visitor to Homerton College, where I worked. Her art work was part of the popular exhibition Picturebook Art at the Millennium at the Fitzwilliam Museum in 2000.
Sunshine by Jan Ormerod, published in 1981

Jan's inspiration was her children and she was a keen observer of their antics. She talked about her books as "a celebration and savouring of the positive experience of parenthood". I was privileged to visit her studio regularly while she was creating a delightful version of The Frog Prince, published in 1991, and I could see how Sophie was the model for the princess and Laura for her little sister. Jan's books were always very physical and in this case celebrated her passion for dance. Her house was full of the children's drawings, as well as Jan's own work in progress, and there was usually a cat somewhere around. There is often a cat watching what's going on in the background of her books and I remember how much she relished working on Kitten Day (1989).

Jan was a most attractive woman with a strong sense of fashion. Although a listener and naturally quiet, she could be the life and soul of the party. She was generous, funny and had irrepressible energy. She was a restless spirit and moved house frequently in the years when I knew her. A good cook, she loved entertaining friends and family.

Jan found soulmates in a group of female artists living in Rutland; they visited each others' studios regularly and provided mutual support. She later relocated to Uppingham, in Rutland, and took regular lengthy visits to rediscover her ancestral roots in the Australian outback, where many of her later picturebooks, such as the exuberant Lizzie Nonsense (2004), are located. She began a fruitful collaboration and friendship with the indigenous Australian author Boori Monty Pryor. Their book Shake a Leg (2010) won a Prime Minister's Literary award in Australia.

Jan is survived by her daughters and two grandchildren.
• Jan Louise Ormerod, illustrator and author, born 23 November 1946; died 23 January 2013