I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen. Illustration: Walker Publishers / Jon Klassen

‘I am very serious about being silly’: children’s illustrators on the art of storytelling

From The Twits to The Gruffalo and an angry bear in search of his hat… Quentin Blake, Cressida Cowell, Axel Sheffler, Lauren Child and more reveal how they bring children’s books to life

Stuart Heritage

Sat 30 May 2026

Spread across a sprawling 17th-century industrial complex in London’s Clerkenwell, the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, which opens next month, is being billed as the largest institution of its kind anywhere in the world: a permanent national home for an art form that shapes everything from children’s books and political cartoons to animation, fashion, advertising and digital culture. Part museum, part gallery and part creative laboratory, the centre represents an extraordinary attempt to drag illustration out of the margins and finally place it at the heart of British cultural life.

Luci Gutiérrez / The New Yorker

 

Luci Gutiérrez 

(Barcelona, 1977)

THE NEW YORKER

Michael Rosen's Sad Book

 

Illustration by Quentin Blake

Michael Rosen's Sad Book

Wednesday 9 November 2016

During a recent visit to The National Museum of Wales we got to view the Quentin Blake Exhibition. This has been running from July 16th and goes through until November 20th and celebrates the wonderful work of the popular author and illustrator. The exhibition is free, as in entry to the museum itself, and is located upstairs. We enjoyed looking at the many works of Quentin Blake, discovering his various work tools, film footage of him working and exploring the artwork. In a large, open and bright area of the room was a long table with books illustrated by Quentin with paper and colouring pencils for visitors to try their hand at their own illustrations.

Jon Klassen / I Want my hat back

 

https://youtu.be/YigAUDPZXqc?feature=shared

I WANT MY HAT BACK
By Jon Klassen

https://youtu.be/YigAUDPZXqc

YOUTUBE

 

On the Dark(er) Side of the Perpetually Dark Edward Gorey

FROM WITTGENSTEIN TO THE GOLDEN GIRLS, A MAN OF VARIED INTERESTS

GABRIELLE BELLOTMAY 3, 2017

“A is for AMY who fell down the stairs. B is for BASIL assaulted by bears.” These were the first sentences I read by Edward Gorey, whose last name seemed too delightfully perfect to be real, like Lemony Snicket. I was in a bookshop in London, holding a novelty copy of The Gashlycrumb Tinies, an abecedarian in which each letter reveals the grisly and somehow perversely delightful death of an unfortunate child. Clara wastes away; Desmond, perhaps mercifully, is tossed from a sleigh; Olive, infinitely unlucky, is run through with an awl. It was like reading bedtime stories for semi-adults, and it was too glorious not to purchase. It was the kind of cute-brutal book that ironically seemed like it might cheer the right kind of wrong person up on a bad day, not unlike Tim Burton’s Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy.

Edward Gorey's "Great Simple Theory About Art" is essential reading for writers.

EMILY TEMPLEFEBRUARY 19, 2025

“Many of Edward Gorey’s most fervent devotees,” Stephen Schiff wrote in a profile of the artist in The New Yorker in 1992, “think he’s (a) English and (b) dead. Actually, he has never so much as visited either place.” Alas, he has now visited at least one: Gorey—born nearly a century ago, on February 22, 1925—died in 2000, leaving behind a vast catalogue of work—the macabre, deadpan, funny and sometimes brutal illustrations and short narratives for which he has become a cult icon—and a mysterious personal legacy.

Robert McGinnis

 

Robert McGinnis: Dangerous Curves

From James Bond movies to pulp novels, artist Robert McGinnis illustrated the allure of the man-eating femme fatale.

Paul Kennedy

28 July 2025

The original movie poster for 1965's Thunderball highlights McGinnis's art. Image courtesy: Heritage Auctions. 

Long before then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter shocked the world by admitting in a Playboy magazine interview that he had “lust in his heart,” there was artist Robert McGinnis, who, since the late 1950s, had lust in his illustrations.

Original artwork by George McGinnis for the James Bond movie "Thunderball." Courtesy of Propstore.com

James Bond Original ‘Thunderball’ Movie Art Sells for $335,500

The movie poster illustration for the 1965 Bond movie starring Sean Connery by famed American artist Robert McGinnis leaves bidders “shaken and stirred.”

16 January 2024

American artist and illustrator Robert McGinnis has created more than 1,200 memorable paperback book covers, as well as several iconic movie posters, but it was his original movie poster illustration for the 1965 James Bond classic, “Thunderball,” that left bidders shaken and stirred. The illustrator’s artwork from the film starring Sean Connery sold for $335,500 at Propstore Auctions in November.

The artwork depicts James Bond (Sean Connery) standing before the scantily-clad Fiona (Luciana Paluzzi), Domino (Claudine Auger), Patricia (Molly Peters) and Paula (Martine Beswick) with his harpoon gun and Bahamian cocktail in hand. At 8 1/2" x 16", the piece is rendered in oil and gouache on illustration board.

An example of the art McGinnis created used in a movie poster for "Thunderball." Courtesy of Heritage Auctions

In addition to his work on James Bond films, McGinnis (American, 1926) has several iconic movie posters to his credit, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s(1961) and Barbarella (1968). His work for the James Bond series led producer Barbara Broccoli to say, “[McGinnis] captures the wit, excitement, and adventure of Bond in a series of brushstrokes.”

In 2022, another original illustration by McGinnis for Thunderball sold for $275,000 in robust bidding at Heritage Auctions Illustration Art Signature Auction.

ARTIQUETRADER

Original James Bond Movie Art Sells For $275,000

 

Original James Bond Movie Art Sells For $275,000

Robert McGinnis’ original movie poster illustration for James Bond’s “Thunderball” leaves bidders shaken and stirred at Heritage Auctions.

Paul Keneddy

12 October 2022

American artist and illustrator Robert McGinnis has created more than 1,200 memorable paperback book covers as well as several iconic movie posters, but it was his original movie poster illustration for the 1965 James Bond classic that left bidders shaken and stirred.

Dictatorship oppression by Freepik

 

Michael SOWA III

 

Micheal Sowa III

Michael Sowa ll

 

Michael SOWA ll

Michael Sowa l

 

Michael SOWA l

When Herman Met Rockwell: The Definitive Moby Dick

 

When Herman Met Rockwell: The Definitive Moby Dick

August 07, 2015

Originally posted August 6, 2009 on interiordesign.net

“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet…then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

Jonathan Wolstenholme / Books

 

Illustration by Jonathan Wolstenholme

Jonathan Wolstenholme

Surreal Illustrated books in anthropomorphic style

POSTED BYMARIA PAPAEFSTATHIOU

MARCH 1, 2012

British artist and illustrator Jonathan Wolstenholme as a surrealist and a lover for antique books will give life to his books and transform them to clever anthropomorphic images. A movement that will bring his art to a popular niche. See how set out to conquer your living room.

New artworks set to brighten up prison visiting halls

 

New artworks set to brighten up prison visiting halls

Friday 5th April 2024

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In an exciting new project, Quentin has produced a series of 5 illustrations about family relationships, for display in prison visiting halls across England and Wales.  

The rooms, where children meet their incarcerated parents, were perceived by HM Prisons service workers as stressful and unwelcoming for young visitors.  Appoximately 200,000 children in England and Wales have a parent currently in custody.

Christian Weiss / Illustrations

Christian Weiss 

Christian Weiss / Women

Women

by Christian Weiss

«Photography has become so omnipresent and effortless, that it is hard to earn a living from it and to stay identifyable. Millions of really good amateurs spoil the prizes as they work for free. The whole workflow has become easy and technically bad work can be repaired. Through social Media and Online platforms, ideas are spread and copied fast as lightning. Its like in the Musicbusines and in the Modelindustrie. A huge huge circus of desire. There will alway be a market for Bread an Butterwork that can not easily be served with stockfotography. (I do this a lot) As an artist you have to really stand out in some way and be very busy and very lucky to do well financially.»

«I want to talk about emotion, mere beauty or joy is somehowe boring to me, as well as to explicite blood and splatter themes or eroticism. I want to tell “one picture storys” that stay a little longer in peoples head. Every face tells many stories, every body expresses emotions. Beside this I respect my models as “pieces of art” by themselves, as living Sculptures, as milagros by nature. Built up by their experiences and individual lifes. I would consider myself as shy, and photography is a priveliged way to a gain certain intimacy. Good work without trust is not possible. Many of my pictures are quite artificial and do not necessarily tell a story about me or the model. But the Model has to trust in my vision. In a way my method is, to tell a convincing lie to show a truth about the human condition.»

Laura Laine / Illustrator

Laura Laine  

Illustrator

Takeuma / I only believe in what I see

jan 29, 2014

Takeuma

I only believe in what I see

Interview with japanese illustrator 

The kyoto-based illustrator, takeuma tells us 

more about himself and his work in this short interview.

DB: which have been your most satisfying projects to date?

T: magazine covers can be difficult but rewarding – you have to consider that there will be many letters and lots of information shown alongside your illustration. it’s a challenge to express the client’s idea in this very confined and compromised type of space.