About the Artist

Aditi Bhatia is the founder and author–illustrator behind Puddle & Pen, where she creates digital picture books for children, downloadable art prints, and illustrated pieces for people who enjoy children story-led art.

Her work comes from a love of picture books and the compact genius of the form. A good picture book has to do a lot in very little space. It has to engage a child, hold their attention, help them remember, build language, entertain, teach without becoming heavy-handed, and leave room for the illustrations to carry part of the story.

Aditi is especially interested in how children read picture books: how they follow a page, notice details adults miss, return to the same story, learn through rhythm and repetition, and make meaning from both words and pictures. Her work often begins with a simple question: what will make a child want to look again?

Before founding Puddle & Pen, Aditi worked as an Associate Professor of English. She holds a PhD in Linguistics and has a background in language, communication, writing, and culture. That experience still informs how she thinks about storytelling, vocabulary, rhythm, memory, and the relationship between text and image.

Puddle & Pen brings together her academic background, her interest in early childhood literacy, and her work as an illustrator. It is a place for digital picture books, printable art, character studies, studio notes, and stories made with children’s attention in mind.