Jim Smith - Illustrator

Jim Smith is The most boringly-named graphic novelist in the world. That's why he calls himself Waldo Pancake.

When he was a kid, Jim collected coke cans. Now he's grown up, he draws on paper cups and sugar sachets for a coffee shop chain called Puccino's. He also writes the Barry Loser kids' books which have sold over 850,000 copies and won him the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Laugh Out Loud Book Award. In his spare time, Jim makes little birds out of bits and pieces he finds in skips.

After graduating with a first class degree in advertising, graphic design and illustration in 1997, Jim Smith was spotted by the owner of a small coffee shop chain and brought in to fill the walls of their flagship store with his paintings. It was a three month contract; over twenty years years later, Jim is head of design at Puccino's Worldwide Ltd, now an international coffee shop franchise with stores across the world.

One of the World Book Day 2014 Authors  After graduating with a first class degree in advertising, graphic design and illustration in 1997, Jim Smith was spotted by the owner of a small coffee shop chain and brought in to fill the walls of their flagship store with his paintings.

It was a three month contract; fourteen years later, Jim is head of design at Puccino's Worldwide Ltd, now an international coffee shop franchise with stores in the UK, Europe and Egypt.

In the meantime he's illustrated kids' food packaging for M&S, drawn cartoons on the sides of PJ smoothies, created in-store graphics for Orange phone stores, designed book covers and branded a New York based Iced Tea company.

In 2010, Jim launched the hugely successful Waldo Pancake range of stationery and gift products, now sold in the UK, Australia, Singapore, Europe and the US.

'I am not a Loser' by Barry Loser, the first of a series of children’s books 'spellchecked' by Jim, was published in 2012, having already sold rights to nine countries.  The sequel, ‘I am Still Not a Loser’ was the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2013 and declared the funniest book for children aged seven to fourteen.

Jim won the Scholastic LOLLIES book award for Future Ratboy.