Mariajo Ilustrajo
About Author
Award-winning author and illustrator Mariajo Ilustrajo introduces her new picture book, Oh, Carrots!, about making new friends.
Mariajo is a Spanish illustrator and designer based in the UK. In 2020 she was crowned overall 'New Talent' winner of the World Illustration Awards, before completing her MA in Children's Illustration at the Cambridge Anglia Ruskin course.
Mariajo loves travelling, cooking and animals - and can always be found with pen and paper in hand. Flooded, her debut picture book, fulfilled her life-long dream of becoming a children's book author-illustrator. You can find her @Ilustrajo on Instagram and on Twitter.
Interview
Mariajo Ilustrajo explores friendships and fun in Oh, Carrots! (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
April 2025
Award-winning author and illustrator Mariajo Ilustrajo talks to ReadingZone about her new picture book, Oh, Carrots, a story about moving outside our comfort zone to meet new friends, and how friends can bring unexpected changes into our lives.
Mariajo also talks about how her books are created and how she hopes to entertain and encourage young children through her stories.
Review: "A wonderful. powerful story to use in schools and homes, exploring friendship and the importance of being kind and tolerant."
Q&A with Mariajo Illustrajo, introducing a special new friendship in Oh, Carrots!
"Doing new things, getting out of our comfort zone, can be magical and meeting
new friends can be wonderful"
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself, and the kinds of books you enjoy creating? What have been your author highlights so far?
I love drawing! I've been doing it since I can remember and I guess I never stopped!
I really love my job. For me there is a very fine line between hobby and work as I spend most of my time doing the same. So I guess I feel very fortunate to get paid for doing what I love most. My favourite part of the job is sketching new ideas, new characters and playing with new materials or finding new ways of working.
I love when I see people reading one of my books for the first time and giggle or make the noise "awhhhhhhh". That makes my day! So I guess I enjoy creating books that make people laugh or touch them in some way.
Author highlights!? I still can't process how well received my books have been from the beginning. Winning the World Illustration Awards (2020) and the Klauss Flugge Prize (2023) were amazing highlights in my career and provided a big impulse. Being shortlisted for the Illustrator of the Year at the British Book Awards 2025 (aka the Nibbies) among illustrators such as Oliver Jeffers and Jim Field, who's work I have admired for a long time, is truly mind blowing!
2. What is your new book, Oh, Carrots!, about?
It's about a lonely rabbit who enjoys his own company, reading and gardening. He loves spring time as it's time to plant his favourite thing, carrots! However this year something extraordinary happens. He pulls a wriggly carrot who's alive and who follows him home. This cheeky carrot just wants to be Mr Rabbit's friend, but he finds her very annoying to start with. However with time he realises that having a friend is not so bad and perhaps he could have more.
A funny and heartfelt story about the magic of making friends, as per the book blurb!
3. What gave you the spark of the idea for this story about friendship, and what was your initial plan for it?
Ths idea was born from a character I created many years ago during a short course on writing picture books. She was more of a little girl character, with orange hair: la niña zanahoria (carrot girl). At the time I wasn't able to finish the story, I guess I didn't know what the story was, so I started to use her image on tote bags, t-shirts, mugs, buttons and notebooks to sell at illustrators fairs (see the image below).
I often feel like an impostor calling myself an author, as I am not sure how I ended up writing my own stories. I guess when I am drawing, the characters talk to me, some ideas come to mind and I am able to somehow put them together, but at that stage, I was unable to organise these thoughts so I abandoned the idea. However, I think this story has been percolating in the back of my head all these years and finally I understood what I wanted to say.
As I said, I don't consider myself a writer; so often the ideas come from characters I draw who tell me something. More than aiming for an idea or concept like friendship, for example. I am really happy this character led me to a lovely story about "growing" friends from a bit of a fun and surreal idea.
4. What kind of discussions about friendship do you hope Oh, Carrots! might encourage?
I haven't thought about this before, but I guess the importance of having friends, even if they are different from you, perhaps this makes the friendship more interesting!
I was a very shy kid and I struggled to make friends initially and I would rather be in my own world with my pencils. I guess I was a bit like Mr Rabbit. So I guess it's nice to show that doing new things, getting out of our comfort zone can be magical and meeting new friends can be wonderful.
5. What do you think they will laugh at the most - was there a moment that made you giggle?
I love the moment when Carrots enters Mr Rabbit's house and touches everything. It's one of the pages which hasn't changed, not even the text, since the very early stages, as we all thought it was quite hilarious. I always read Mr Rabbit's voice with a very nervous voice.
6. Does it take a long time to get from the first idea to a finished text? What is your process like for creating a new story?
Every book is so different and they all follow their own path. This is the book I wrote and illustrated in the shortest period of time. Maybe because the idea was there in the back of my mind for such a long time, the first draft of text/images was done within three days. I had just returned from my maternity leave and my baby was at nursery for just three days a week, so also that pressure of time helped me to work very fast and time was of the essence! Of course there was a lot to polish, but the essence and structure was there!
Usually I start drawing a lot of disorganised thumbnails on paper with very rough sketches. Sometimes they are so rough that they don't make much sense, so in order to show it to my publisher - so they have a better sense of what I am trying to say, I draw these thumbnails again slightly bigger with the text on the side, so it's a bit more organised and they can get a better sense of the story. Then I start to work with my editor and art director who often question or challenge parts of the story. It's a very collaborative process, which I really enjoy!
I usually create these sketches in the final size and scale of the book as I need to see all the images with the text together from the early stages to make sure everything works in unison. For me, little rough thumbnails only work at the VERY early stages, then I need to draw everything properly. Then, when all of the edits have been completed and amended, I proceed with the final artwork. Which again, for every book is different. For this one I used acrylic gouache, colour pencils and pan pastels. The carrot had an extra tint on top (a neon Pantone) when printed to give her an extra punchy look.
7. Can you tell us about your illustrations, and how you decided on the illustration style for Oh, Carrots? How do you make vegetables - even onions! - look warm and cuddly?
Hmmm... I wish I had a better answer to this, but...I don't know! Intuition? I guess what I feel is going to work better with the story. Sometimes the wish of working in a new or different way, or with new exciting materials.
Also...thank you! I often hear that my characters look like me, and I think that when I am drawing, let's say the page that I said it makes me laugh, when I was drawing my face was doing the same gestures as the characters. If they laugh I am laughing :)
8. There are so many little details in the illustrations for children to enjoy; any favourites?
I love when Mr Rabbit and Carrots are in the spa and Carrots eats the slice of cucumber that were on her eyes! That was a bit controversial and a bit bizarre perhaps, but I thought the absurdity was very funny and in the end they allowed me to keep it.
9. Oh, Carrots! is a lovely story to share in the spring. What kind of activities could you suggest to follow up a reading of Oh, Carrots!
I love a bit of gardening, so I guess if it's possible go and plant some veggies! I have some tomato plants ready to re-pot with my little one and hopefully she'll enjoy collecting them once they grow!
10. Do you plan to revisit Mr Rabbit and Carrots for future stories? What else are you working on, and where do you prefer to create your stories?
I wasn't thinking about it to be honest, but I think this question has perhaps unlocked something in my head. Maybe! Maybe!
I am currently working on my next book: Unexpected Guests, which I can't wait to share with the world!
I usually work from home in a dedicated space to work :)
School events: Mariajo offers events both in person and virtual. "I usually introduce myself with a small presentation about me and the book they are interested in, a Q&A and then an activity and/or a draw along. If anyone is interested they can contact me by email at [email protected]."
Mariajo Ilustrajo introduces her earlier picture books
Mariajo Ilustrajo explores reading for pleasure in her picture book, I Love Books (Frances Lincoln Children's Books, March 2024)
Mariajo Ilustrajo's I Love Books explores what a love of reading really means. When a girl is given the task of reading a book during the holidays, she is horrified, until her sister gives her a book that she might enjoy. Soon, the child is lost in a story as the true magic of reading takes hold.
Mariajo Ilustrajo reads from her debut, Flooded, in 2022 (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)
A rising star in picture books, author and illustrator Mariajo Ilustrajo's first picture book was inspired by a sketch she had drawn of animals in an underground station. The final book, about a city that succumbs to flooding, can be read as a story about teamwork and a story about climate change. Here, Mariajo Ilustrajo to tell us more about Flooded and shares part of the story with us.
Oh, Carrots!
I Love Books
Lost
Flooded
