Alan Baker studied for one year reading Zoology at Hull university then in the summer of 1971, aged nineteen, he left home with his girlfriend, armed with a map torn from a school atlas, and his savings of seventy pounds and took the hippie trail to India.

He later took a degree in illustration at Brighton Art School where he gained a first class Hons in Illustration.

Since then he has worked as a freelance illustrator, writing and illustrating over forty children's books, receiving awards for eleven of them. He has illustrated books for Michael Rosen, Philippa Pearce and Louis de Bernieres.