You may have heard of Alex because of his fabulous and very amusing Claude series or because of one of the many other wonderful books he has written and illustrated. He is something of a legend on Twitter, live tweeting along to the Great British Bake Off, making jokes with a nod to Victoria Wood and Larry Grayson and posting impossibly cute pictures of his three mini dogs.

About three years ago I tweeted Alex to let him know how wonderful I thought his drawings were and how much I WISHED I could draw. At the time I hadn't really tried to draw and it was something I felt quite wistful about...

For some reason, his reply really made me think. Try it, I thought. So I did... I practised and practised. And three years later drawing has become part of who I am. I draw every day and I partly put that down to Alex's encouragement.

Here's a wonderful video I found today of Alex inspiring young illustrators. What a magical thing to do.