Windows into Illustration:


Eric Hill


This year sees the 30th anniversary of the publication of Where’s Spot?, Eric Hill’s innovative lift-the-flap book for very young children. With its white backgrounds against which objects are clearly delineated, large typeface and interactive story, Eric Hill’s distinctively minimalist style in which each element is perfectly integrated perhaps owes something to his background as a graphic designer. Here Eric Hill explains the genesis of Where’s Spot? and discusses his technique and approach.


I


was lucky. I worked at home as a freelance illustrator and my two-year-old son, Christopher, was a constant visitor to my studio. One day, I showed him some funny


drawings I had made using a flap format for an advertising job I was working on. He laughed and that got me thinking.


I must explain that at the time, over 30 years ago, the publishing term ‘lift the flap’ was not in


10 Books for Keeps No.184 September 2010


use, or even known. My idea was to make an amusing story using flaps that I could read to Chris at bedtime. I had no intention to take it any further – it was a game, if you like, played between father and son. I shared the story hour


with Chris and my wife Gillian, who was delighted that I had found such a riveting tale to keep Chris happy. So I developed a storyline for using the flaps but first I should explain what was involved.


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