About Eric Hill: Eric Gordon Hill was a popular English author and illustrator of children's picture books, best known for his character Spot the Dog. His works have been widely praised for their contributions to child literacy.
I consider myself very fortunate indeed to have created a character which has captured the imagination and enthusiasm of so many children worldwide. They are my family, and Spot belongs to them all.
I am quite convinced now... that the actual training of drawing cartoons - which is, of course, my style - led to my producing Spot. Cartoons must be very simple and have as few words as possible, and so, too, must the 'Spot' books.
I'm not over-enamored of complicated books, and wonder if it's more for the author's ego than anything else?
As a child, during the war, I drew Spitfires and Messerschmitts. With Spot, I found that I had designed a fuselage! His spot is on his side, the roundel marking of an English fighter plane, and the color bar of his tail is the color stripes of a plan...
