Hanmo Sugiura is a Japanese illustrator and picture book author born in 1931 in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. He graduated with a major in design from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Tokyo University of the Arts. After initially working in the publicity department of a pharmaceutical company and then for a design company, he established his own design company in 1964 and began producing original works in graphics and illustration. From around 1970, he became a prolific creator of picture books and children's books.

Sugiura is the co-creator of the original story behind the anime film Rudolf the Black Cat, released in Japan in 2016. The film is based on his books written with Hiroshi Saitō, specifically Rudolph and Ippaiattena and Rudorufu Tomodachi Hitoridachi. In this context, Sugiura is credited as an original story author rather than a screenwriter, with the film's screenplay written by Yōichi Katō.

His career as an original creator is primarily rooted in children's picture books rather than serialized manga. His notable works include In a Balloon over Eyelash Ocean (also known as Airship in the Sea under Eyelashes), which was nominated for the Graphic Prize at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in 1984. He received the Japan Picture Book Award for this same work in 1983. Other significant picture books include Furuya no Mori (The Dreadful Drops), which earned him the Shogakukan Art Award in 1979, and The Desperate Vitality of Animals. In 1985, he received the Minister of Education's Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists for his children's picture books.

Sugiura has also received the Asahi Advertisement Award Silver Medal, the Mainichi Design Award, and the Japan Advertising Artists Club Award for his graphic work. His artistic identity is characterized by an originality of color and composition that has brought him recognition both in Japan and internationally.

Beyond his creative work, Sugiura also works as a book binder. His professional standing in the field of children's literature and illustration is significant, evidenced by his receipt of multiple major awards in Japan and recognition at the prestigious Bologna Children's Book Fair. His significance in the anime industry is specifically tied to the adaptation of his picture book stories into the animated feature film Rudolf the Black Cat, which was directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Motonori Sakakibara and produced by Toho.