Trevor Allan is a self taught artist who lives in Brisbane, Australia with his wife.
His passion is drawing and illustrating with a twist of humour. Trevor’s aim is to have numerous books published, read and enjoyed by children and adults alike.
“I was a cartoonist for a small newspaper and monthly magazine when we lived in Christchurch New Zealand. During this time I illustrated “Poppa McPhee Gets The Eggs” by John Parker which was published by Scholastic N.Z. Writing children’s books myself was the next step. Writing the graphic novel was my main goal and this was written slowly while having a full time job.While writing the graphic novel I also wrote another four books and now we are retired I can finally concentrate on the publication of my books.
In 2020 I went to an oil painting class with my daughter, having never picked up a paint brush. These classes mainly included landscapes and this did not grab me but later at home I started painting portraits and pets. After painting all the grandchildren and other portraits, I found oil painting to be another creative outlet that I thoroughly enjoy. I have painted some commissions and I am continuing to learn more about oil painting whilst also writing and illustrating books.”
Media releases
Nor’West News
SWEET SUCCESS FOR POPPA MCPHEE
Local artist Trevor Allan Graduated top of his art class in 1970, but it wasn’t until recently that he fulfilled his dream of having his illustrations published. His line-drawn conc pets for the second book of the popular children’s’ Poppa McPhee series, Poppa McPhee Gets The Eggs, won over Scholastic. It gave him the job of illustrating the book, which has just been released. Trevor has always like drawing, but up until recently he used his skills only to make cards for people or to draw cartoons for newspapers and magazines. He kept working on improving his drawing, and eventually decided to send a sample to a publisher.
It took Trevor three months to finish the illustrations while also running a full-time distribution business with his wife Sheryl. He started with line-drawn pictures, the scanned and coloured them using PhotoShop on his Mac Computer. The result is brightly coloured, intricate drawings, which are a labour of love according to Sheryl.
“Trevor always puts so much detail in his drawings. It’s like each time you look at them, you find something new.”
From an early age Trevor was inspired by Tintin cartoon books he borrowed from the library. When they were re-released a few years ago he immediately bought the whole series, because he like the picture and text style so much. He said it influenced some of his drawings in Poppa McPhee and his own book, The Legend of F. Aarty’s Farm, which he is currently writing, and illustrating.
Trevor said it was a lot of work and there was still a long way to go, but the feeling of accomplishment would be worth it.
“The ultimate would be to get my own book published. Actually, the ultimate would be if publishers came to me, but just seeing my name on it in a store would feel great.”
Trevor said the next step would be to send his illustrations to publishers in America, and hopefully get enough work to illustrate full-time.
Bay Harbour News
Sumner cartoonist Trevor Allan wakes up at night with new ideas spinning around in his head. His latest nocturnal brain explosion was the case of Bernie Wimple’s Pimple.
Trevor previously appeared in the Bay Harbour News as the illustrator for Poppa McPhee Gets the Eggs. This time he has illustrated and written a children’s’ book about a nasty pimple which is treated by Dr Wattlebee Next.
“I just woke up at 2:00am in the morning and idea was just there. I sat awake thinking about it and then I had it finished in a month.”
The illustrations are extremely detailed with interesting characters and plenty happening on each page. Trevor says he has three or four books in his head at the moment that he’d like to get out. He is currently working on a 52-page book aimed at older children, with a slightly green theme. The Earth is running out of air and someone comes up with the idea to use animal gasses to create air as well as energy. Dr Evolution attempts to thwart his plans. A classic “baddies verses goodies” tale, Trevor says.