Errol Le Cain

Errol Le Cain was born in Singapore on the 5th of March 1941. He was educated there but had no formal art training. He traveled through the Far East, lived in India for 5 years, and moved to England. He made his first animated film when he was 14.

Working for Richard Williams, he animated the 1967 short film The Sailor and the Devil, as well as the opening titles for The Liquidator, and created the beautiful Persian-miniature backgrounds for the Nasrudin film which became The Thief and the Cobbler, as well as a significant amount of concept art for the film over the years. For the final film, the backgrounds were created in Le Cain's style.

Le Cain worked in advertising and film studios, and became a freelance designer in 1969. He designed sets for BBC television shows, and worked on cartoons and graphics.

His first illustrated book was published in 1968, King Arthur's Sword, and started his new career as an illustrator. He is quoted as saying in ICb4 that his first book “made me aware of the the scope and possibilities in children's books and now I am convinced this is the medium for me”. He continued “The first task of an illustrator is to be in full sympathy with the writer. No matter how splendid and exciting the drawings may be, if they work against the story, the picture book is a faliure”.

He was the author of some of the books he illustrated, but mostly worked with other authors. He was twice runner up for the Kate Greenaway Award (for The Cabbage Princess in 1969 and Thorn Rose in 1976) and finally won it in 1985 for Hiawatha's Childhood.

Errol Le Cain died on the 3rd of January 1989 after a long illness.