'Horrible Histories: Edinburgh'.
Mike Alan Phillips was a British illustrator of children's books, mostly active for Scholastic. He was notable as the illustrator of Alison Grunwald's children's book series 'Whatever Next, Grandma'. In the 2000s, he contributed to various volumes of 'Horrible Histories', Terry Deary's humorous children's book series about the gruesome facts of history, and was additionally the artist of the spin-offs 'Horrible Geography' by Anita Ganeri, 'Fact-Tastic Stories' by Gill Arbuthnott and 'Foul Football' by Michael Coleman. He should not be confused with U.S. film critic Michael Phillips (b. 1961).
Life and illustration career
Michael Alan Phillips was born in 1961 in East London. From a young age, he enjoyed drawing comic characters, based on the ones he read about in books and magazines. At age 15, he left school and went into the printing industry. In 1993, Phillips started sending cartoons to newspapers and various magazines, designing birthday cards from 1995 on. In 1998, Phillips joined the Beehive Illustration agency, through which he illustrated more than 300 titles, including Tereza Anteneová's 'Spikey' (Compass-Publishing, 2021), Mike Nicholson's 'Museum Mystery Squad' series (Floris Books, 2017-2019) and Alison Grunwald's 'Whatever Next, Grandma' series (Blue Robin Press, 2020-2023). From the latter series, his favorite installment was 'Grandma Rides A Pony' (2021). Phillips also created the busy picture book 'Great Scotland Search' (2024), where readers have to spot characters in crowd illustrations set in Scotland.
'Museum Mystery Squad and the Case of the Roman Riddle'.
Horrible Histories
For Scholastic, Mike Phillips contributed comics and cartoons to Terry Deary's humorous educational children's book series 'Horrible Histories', which focuses on gruesome details from historical events. In a style reminiscent of the series' usual house illustrator, Martin Brown, Phillips livened up the pages of three specials devoted to the history of cities: 'York' (2005), 'Edinburgh' (2005) and 'Dublin' (2006). Further illustrators for the 'Horrible Histories' series have been Philip Reeve and Kate Sheppard.
Horrible Histories spin-offs: 'Horrible Geography'
Since 'Horrible Histories' was popular in merchandising and translation, Scholastic started producing more educational children's books discussing topics their target audience usually would perceive as "boring", but now presented in a more humorous and sensationalist style. The original writer Terry Deary had no involvement in these spin-offs, but Reeve became the main illustrator of one of them, 'Horrible Geography', written by Anita Ganeri. Mike Phillips' drawings have adorned the books 'Odious Oceans' (1999), 'Stormy Weather' (1999), 'Violent Volcanoes' (1999), 'Desperate Deserts' (2000), 'Earth-Shattering Earthquakes' (2000), 'Raging Rivers' (2000), 'Bloomin' Rainforests' (2001), 'Freaky Peaks' (2001), 'Perishing Poles' (2002), 'Intrepid Explorers' (2003), 'Wild Islands' (2004), 'Monster Lakes' (2005), 'Cracking Coasts' (2006) and 'Wicked World Tour' (2007).
'Horrible Histories: Dublin'.
Horrible Histories spin-offs: 'Foul Football'
With former sport journalist Michael Coleman, Phillips also published 'Foul Football', focused on sensational trivia about the sport and memorable events from matches. He illustrated the titles 'Foul Football' (1997), 'Wicked World Cup' (1998), 'Furious Euro's: The European Championship 1960-2004' (2000), 'Legendary Leagues' (2001), 'Triumphant Teams' (2001), 'The Phenomenal FA Cup' (2001), 'The Ultimate Fan's Handbook' (2002), 'World Cup Quiz Book' (2002), 'Prize Players' (2003), 'Even Fouler Football' (2004), 'England' (2006), 'Wicked World Cup 2006' (2006), 'The Ups and Downs of the Premier League' (2008) and 'Kickin' Quiz Book' (2008).
Horrible Histories spin-offs: 'Fact-Tastic Stories'
Mike Phillips also provided illustrations for Gill Arbuthnott's 'Fact-Tastic Stories', devoted to anecdotes regarding one particular historical character, event or era. He drew comics and cartoons for 'The Amazing Life of Mary, Queen of Scots' (2021). The other two titles were illustrated by Darren Gate.
Death
Mike Phillips died suddenly in 2024.
Self-portrait.