David Melling grew up in London with various siblings and a selection of animals, including a dog. It took him a while to decide what he wanted to do, but he never stopped drawing.

He worked as a cel renderer and background artist in several animation studios before he began illustrating children's books. His work includes Ruffles and the Red, Red Coat, the Hugless Douglas series, and The Kiss That Missed, which was short-listed for the Kate Greenaway Medal. To date he has created around 150 books in over thirty languages. David Melling lives in Oxfordshire, England, with his wife and two children.