Faculty of Arts

Winning a US science fiction illustration award inspired me to make a career out of doing what I love.

My degree gave me a good grounding for my career as an artist, illustrator and author. My works are now sold around the world.

I have created concept artwork for films, a children’s Art Trail for the Art Gallery of Western Australia and murals for the Subiaco Library. I also established the annual Shaun Tan Art Award for Young Artists to encourage those who love to draw and paint.

Today I work mainly on writing and illustrating picture books for older readers, dealing with themes such as colonial imperialism, social apathy and the nature of memory and depression.

You can visit my website for more information on my work. My books are published by Lothian Books.

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Shaun Tan is the first graduate of The University of Western Australia to win an Oscar, Hollywood's highest accolade. At the 83rd Academy Awards, Shaun won Best Animated Short Film for a 15-minute film based on his book The Lost Thing. The film is about a boy who finds a strange creature on a beach, and decides to find a home for it in a world where everyone believes there are far more important things to worry about

The Lost Thing also won first prize at Annecy, the world's largest animation film festival and Best Short Animation at the 2010 Australian Film Industry awards.

Books such as The Red Tree, The Lost Thing and the acclaimed wordless novel The Arrival have been widely translated throughout the world and enjoyed by readers of all ages. His most recently published books are Tales from Outer Suburbia, an anthology of short illustrated stories and The Bird King, a collection of small sketches.