About Jenny Williams

Jenny Williams' Work Spans Spectrum from Barnyard to Biblical Scenes

"Superb," "extraordinary," and "charming" are the words you see over and over and over again in reviews of the books Jenny Williams has illustrated. Look carefully at her drawings and you may also see her home, garden, son, daughter, dog, cat, hens and rooster.

The kids (now both college students) and the critters are part of the life Williams shares with her husband on a 14-acre farm in southwestern Wales, where the couple moved in the late 1970s. Williams had just made the transition from commercial art of all kinds—advertising, fashion, magazine and book jackets—to illustrating children's books. Today her drawings appear in dozens of children's books published in many different countries: she's done fairy tales and nursery rhymes, animal stories and folk tales, Bible stories and humor.

"I enjoy each job, regardless of the topic," she says, "but the subject of '25 Things to Do When Grandpa Passes Away, Mom and Dad Get Divorced, or the Dog Dies' is especially sensitive and deserved careful treatment, which is a challenge for the artist."

A native of London, Williams was educated at the Wimbledon School of Art and University of London. She started drawing as a very young child, making up stories about the figures she drew.

"In my earliest drawings, all the people had feet pointing in the same direction, like the art of the ancient Egyptians!" Williams chuckles.