About me /
Melissa castrillon is an and English and Colombian illustrator based in the south east of England. She spends a large chunk of her days illustrating and writing picture books for children as well illustrating and designing Book covers for readers of all ages.
She has illustrated more than ten picture books, written three and they have been translated into more than 20 languages around the world.
Melissa is motivated by punchy colour combos, inventive compositions, ingenious page design and unusual patterns. And she probably spends too much time day-dreaming about all of these things and how she can apply them to new projects.
In 2019 she was awarded the Gold medal by the Society of illustrators in New York for her wordless book ‘The Balcony’. That same year she was asked to re-imagine the covers for Philip Pullman’s HIS DARK MATERIALS series. You can see all of these and more in BOOKS & BOOK COVERS sections above.
In between book projects Melissa spends time designing screen prints & Riso prints which she sells in her shop HERE.
You can also buy her Domestika course ‘Picturebook Illustration: Explore Color and Composition
Contact /
For publication & commission enquiries please contact Helen Boyle of Pickled ink illustration agency- Helen@pickledink.com
For shop enquiries please contact- melissacastrillonshop@gmail.com
For all other enquiries- mv_castrillon@hotmail.com
Clients /
Penguin Random House / Walker books / Chronicle books /
Simon & Schuster / Faber & Faber / Bloomsbury / Scholastic /
OUP / Usborne / Anthropology / Templar / Red Cap Cards /
Djeco / Topipittori / Chicken house books / Groundwood books /
Macmillan / Magic cat publishing/
Awards & Honours /
2022- CPNB Bronzen penseel (Mighty Min)
2022- UKLA Awards Winner, Best information picture book 3-14+ (NANO, the spectacular science of the very very small)
2021- Anglia Ruskin university Young Alumni of the year award - 2nd place.
2020- World illustration award -Highly commended (His Dark materials books covers)
2019- Society of illustrators Gold medal winner (The balcony)
2019- New York Times notable Picture book (The balcony)
2018- Academy of British cover design- Shortlisted
2015 - World illustration awards - Shortlisted (self initiated screenprint ‘Plant life’)
Talks & Workshops /
2021- July @ Cambridge school of Art summer school- Lecture & teaching
2021- June & October @ Imperial college of London - Nano science & Art workshop with Dr Jess Wade.
2019- June @ Cambridge school of Art / ‘Tools of the Trade’ Talk.
Books /
Leave the trees please (2025, Magic cat)
The World Entire (2025, Chronicle books)
. Love is my favourite colour (2024, S&S)
Beginning (2022, S&S)
Dear little one (2021, S&S)
Nano-The spectacular science of the very (very) small (2021, Walker books)
Can you keep a secret? (2021, Alison Green/Scholastic)
The Balcony (2019, S&S)
Mighty Min (2019, Alison Green/Scholastic)
Un silenzio Perfetto (2018, Topipittori)
Yellow Kayak (2018, S&S)
Animazes (2017, Big Picture Press/Tempar)
Che Bello! (2017, Topipittori)
If i had a little dream (2017, S&S)