Andrea Atanasova — Children's Book Illustrator

I'm Andrea, an illustrator from Sofia, Bulgaria, drawn to the in-between place — that soft, magical space where everyday life blurs into dream.

My greatest inspiration is my three-year-old son Teo, who lives there naturally, the way all small children do. He doesn't yet know the border between what is real and what is imagined, and I find that endlessly fascinating. He is the boy on the elephant in The Night Zoo, adventuring through the dark with his kindergarten friends. He is Teo in Teo & Beatrix — a story inspired by The Little Prince, about a boy and his unlikely companion, a sheep named Beatrix. I borrowed that name from a Harry Potter villain and gave it to someone gentle, innocent, and quietly brave. That felt right.

I came to illustration through theatre, which taught me everything I know about character, emotion, and telling a story without words. I'm a daydreamer. I get lost in stories easily. I'm fascinated by the story that light tells — the way a warm window looks from outside in the cold, the glow of fairy lights in a dark room, the feeling of a moment lit just right.

I don't always have the words — I have feelings and ideas that, with patience and a lot of work, slowly become pictures. In 2025 I deepened my practice by joining an illustration program, committing fully to the craft of visual storytelling for children.

If my work feels like something you'd like to collaborate on, I'd love to hear from you.
andreaatanasova@gmail.com