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Ian Beck was born in 1947. He failed his eleven plus exam and was sent to a local secondary modern school in Hove Sussex. There he was encouraged by a sympathetic art teacher, Victor Prejm and the school headmaster, Mr Turner to attend Brighton College of Art where he happily studied illustration and graphic design, being taught by both Raymond Briggs and John Lawrence. he vividly remembers the sounds of The Beatles Sgt Pepper Album drifting down the corridors and through the studios during the glorious summer of 1967. When he left Art School in 1968 he moved to London.
He worked as a freelance commercial illustrator while also working part time for a year at Harrods in their toy department. He gradually built up a clientele, working for consumer magazines like Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and Homes and Gardens. He also began illustrating advertisements for the recording industry, for artists such as Ry Cooder and Richie Havens. He then went on to design and illustrate album covers as well notably one for Mott The Hoople which was rejected as being too 'camp', and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, for Elton John which happily could not be camper. He carried on working in the record industry until the early 1980's. He had many commissions from the Conran Design Group, including packaging, greeting cards, calendars, interior design panels. He also had a commission for murals in a restaurant at Gatwick Airport.

His first picture book, Round and Round the Garden, was published in 1982. After the success of this book, others followed and in 1988, he wrote his first story to illustrate, The Teddy Robber. In 1997 his book, Home Before Dark won a gold award in the best toy awards and in 2000 he again won the award, this time for Alone in the Woods. He again won the award for The Happy Bee. He was elected Master of the Art Workers Guild in 1999. He has since published over sixty picture books

His first novel The Secret History of Tom Trueheart, Boy Adventurer, was published in June 2006, and has been translated into twenty languages. He published the sequel Tom Trueheart and the Land of Dark Stories, in March 2008. The third Tom Trueheart book will be published in thr uK in October 2010 and he has also published a novel for young adults, a dystopic Science Fiction Fantasy set in a future London called P{astworld. The film rights to the Tom Trueheart books have been sold to Framelight Productions for development as a feature film and Pastworld was recently optioned by Gold Circle Films. He is currently illustrating an edition of Aladdin written by Philip Pullman, and working on two novels, one for 8-11 year olds and one for young adults.

He is married to Emma Stone daughter of the distinguished engraver and letter cutter Reynolds Stone, they have three children. He continues to be in close touch with children through regular visits to schools and libraries, talking about the creation of his books and reading stories.

Ian Beck was born in 1947. He failed his eleven plus exam and was sent to a local secondary modern school in Hove Sussex. There he was encouraged by a sympathetic art teacher, Victor Prejm and the school headmaster, Mr Turner to attend Brighton College of Art where he happily studied illustration and graphic design, being taught by both Raymond Briggs and John Lawrence. he vividly remembers the... More