Marcus Pfister
1960– · Swiss author and illustrator of children's picture books
Marcus Pfister is a Swiss author and illustrator of children's picture books, born in Bern in 1960. He is best known for the Rainbow Fish series, published since 1992, which has been translated into more than 60 languages and has sold over 30 million copies. The books were adapted into a 26-episode animated series by Decode Entertainment, which has aired on the HBO Family channel in the United States since 2000.
Pfister works in watercolor. He begins by stretching the paper over a wooden board and copying his rough sketches onto it in pencil. Backgrounds and soft contours are painted wet on wet for a gentler effect, while finer details are added later, layer by layer, once the paint has dried. When the illustration is finished, he cuts the paper from the board. In February 2017 he was the featured speaker, author, and illustrator at Bal Sahitya Mahotsav, Nepal's first children's literature festival, held in Kathmandu. He lives in Bern with his wife, Debora.