Simon Smith author page

Simon Smith biography

Simon Smith is a children’s illustrator with a long-standing focus on educational publishing. Before becoming a full-time freelancer he worked as a primary school teacher, experience that informs his approach to clear, reader-friendly visual explanation. He has since spent more than three decades illustrating for major education lists, contributing artwork to programmes and classroom resources used across primary and lower secondary.

Publisher and agency profiles credit Smith with illustration work for Oxford University Press, Heinemann, Reed, Longman, Pearson, Scripture Union and Scholastic, among others. His commissions span pupil books, teacher materials and activity-led titles, alongside assignments for children’s magazines.

Smith’s portfolio centres on accessible, character-led artwork and sequential images designed to support comprehension and engagement for young readers. In addition to commissioned illustration, he develops book concepts as a writer–illustrator.

Across these projects, Smith’s work is positioned for school and family audiences, combining clear layouts with approachable visuals to complement literacy, humanities and science topics for KS1–KS3.