Ayako Watanabe author page

Ayako Watanabe biography

Ayako Watanabe is a Japanese illustrator and children’s author. She began her career in advertising before becoming a freelance illustrator. Her illustration work uses traditional media, including acrylics and coloured pencils, alongside digital techniques.

Watanabe contributed artwork to the interactive board-book series Imagine If…, including Fruits! and Veggies!, published by Templar Publishing in June 2023. The books use lift, slide, push and pull mechanisms for babies and toddlers.

Her book Paper Adventures: A Rip-and-Glue Activity Book was published in May 2024. The book guides children through craft activities using illustrated jungle and ocean themes. Watanabe’s artwork was selected for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition in 2017.