Early life

Transition to Illustration

Training

Work Process

Influences

• Films: Brazil, Yellow Submarine
• Filmmakers: Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott
• Artists and illustrators: Francis Bacon, Raymond Briggs, Ron Brooks, Frederick Clement, Joseph Cornell, Giorgio de Chirico, Milton Glaser, Edward Gorey, John Olsen, Michael Leunig, Rene Magritte, Sidney Nolan, Gerald Scarfe, Katsushika Hokusai, J. Otto Siebold, Peter Sis, Lane Smith, Ralph Steadman, Arthur Streeton, Brett Whiteley, Fred Williams, Chris Van Allsburg
• Other: paintings in galleries, "an arrangement of clouds, a lighting effect, a picture in a newspaper, or indeed supermarket plumbing", incidents, textures and accidental compositions created by objects, things from other cultures and times, Polish poster art, streets, clouds, jokes, times of the day, people, animals, the way paint runs down a canvas, or colors go together.

Patronage

2010

• Hugo Award, won for Best Professional Artist

2008

• Hugo Award, Nominated for Best Related Book for The Arrival
• Hugo Award, Nominated for Best Professional Artist (also in 2009 and 2010)
• Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Best Comic Book for Là où vont nos pères, the French edition of The Arrival

2007

• World Fantasy Award for Best Artist Locus Online News: World Fantasy Awards Winners
• New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Community Relations Commission Award for The Arrival
• The Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards: Picture Book of the Year for 'The Arrival'.

2002

• Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Red Tree
• New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature Winner for Red Tree

2001

• Ditmar Award, Best Artwork for The Lost Thing (Lothian Books, 2000)
• Ditmar Award, [edit] Best Professional Achievement for The Lost Thing (Lothian Books, 2000)
• Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Children's Books, Shortlisted for Red Tree
• Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for The Lost Thing

2000

• Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration
• APA Design Award for Memorial
• Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year, Honour Book for Memorial
• Ditmar Award, [edit] Best Artwork (Professional) for the Cover of Orb 0, Shortlisted
• Ditmar Award, Best Artwork for Cover to The Coode St Review Of Science Fiction
• Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Writing for Young Adults award, Shortlisted for Lost Thing

1999

• Children's Book Council of Australia, Notable Book for The Playground
• Aurealis Conveners' Award for Excellence for The Rabbits
• Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year, Winner for The Rabbits
• Spectrum Gold Award for Book Illustration for The Rabbits
• Ditmar Award, Best Professional Artwork, shortlisted for The Rabbits, written by John Marsden

1998

• Crichton Award, Winner for The Viewer
• Children's Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year, Notable Book for The Viewer
• Ditmar Award, Best Professional Artwork for artwork in Eidolon Publications and the cover of The Stray Cat, written by Steven Paulsen, Shortlisted
• Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, Children's Book, Shortlisted for The Playground

1997

• Ditmar Award, Best Artwork/Artist, Shortlisted for The Viewer, written by Gary Crew

1996

• Ditmar Award, Best Artwork for Eidolon Publications Issue 19 (Cover)

1995

• Crichton Award for The Viewer
• Ditmar Awards, Best Professional Artwork for Aurealis Magazine and Eidolon Publications

1993

• Ditmar Award, Best Artwork, Shortlisted for Relics

1992

• L. Ron Hubbard Illustrators of the Future Contest: First Australian to win

Books

As Illustrator

• Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link (2008)
• Memorial, written by Gary Crew (1999)
• The Puppet, by Ian Bone (1999)
• The Hicksville Horror, by Nette Hilton (1999)
• The Rabbits, written by John Marsden (1998)
• The Viewer, written by Gary Crew (1997)
• The Half Dead, by Garry Disher (1997)
• The Doll, by Janine Burke (1997)
• The Stray Cat, by Steven Paulsen (1996)
• Pipe, by James Moloney (1996)

As Author and Illustrator

• Tales from Outer Suburbia (2008)
• The Arrival (2006)
• The Red Tree (2001)
• The Lost Thing (1999)
• The Playground (1997)

Installations

• The Red Tree, a play based on Tan's book of the same name, was commissioned by the Queensland Performing Arts Centre.
• The Red Tree, a music performance created by new composer Michael Yezerski with Richard Tognetti; performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra with the youth choir Gondwana Voices, and accompanied by images from the book.
• The Arrival. Images from this book were projected during a performance by the Australian Chamber Orchestra of conductor Richard Tognetti’s arrangement of Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 15
• The Lost Thing is currently being adapted as an animated short film.
• The Lost Thing inspired an album by Sydney band Lo-Tel, complete with artwork from the book.
• The Lost Thing has also been adapted as a play by the Jigsaw Theatre Company, Jigsaw Theatre Company a youth theatre company in Canberra. This was the main event for the National Gallery of Australia's Children Festival (Canberra) and at the Chookahs! Kids Festival (Melbourne) in 2006.
• The Lost Thing was the theme for the 2006 Chookahs! Kids Festival at The Arts Centre Homepage - The Arts Centre - the home of the performing arts in Melbourne in Melbourne, with many different activities based on concepts from the book.
• The Arrival was also adapated for the stage by Red Leap Theatre.

• "NSW HSC Online" [1] 1999
• "Locus Online" [2] December 2001
• "OzComics" [3] April 2007
• "Articulate" [4] May 2007
• "Newsarama" [5] October 2007
• "The Australian" [6] May 2008
• "ABC Radio National: The Book Show" [7] May 2008
• "Articulate" [8] July 2008
• "The Big Issue" [9] February 2009
• "SlowTV" (Video) [10] August 2009