Pete Fowler

Welshman Pete "The Monsterist" Fowler is what I would refer to as a very "unique" character. A designer with his finger in many pies, Pete not only illustrates but is also a musician and even has his own range of children's toy characters (under the brand "Monsterism") which began circulating over ten years ago. His work is described as...

"...a world where character design meets music and art in a weird and wonderful way.

That world is Monsterism, a place where banjos are played by horned owls and synths tweaked by mutant horses. His unique, instantly recognizable approach and sense of playfulness and visual adventures have brought his work to the attention of people around the world."

In terms of his illustration work, Fowler creates quite simple but extremely colourful, bright and charming pieces using various techniques such as painting, sculpture and printing and has had this work exhibited all around the world many times.

Fowler is perhaps most known in his (and my) home country of Wales for his designs affiliated with the band Super Furry Animals, for whom he created album/single artwork, publications and merchandise for the musical group.

One of Fowler's many characters, full of
personality!

I love Pete's work! The bright colours, the vibrancy and the crisp appearance makes his illustrations really stand out to me. As well as his mind-blowing almost abstract pieces, I really like the way he depicts his characters and this has really inspired me to perhaps try simpler ways of designing my own when the time comes. "Less is more" comes to mind with how he manages to simply but effectively get across a "persona" of his characters. Just brilliant!

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John Lawrence

John Lawrence is, in my eyes, a brilliant illustrator who ticks all of the boxes in terms of what I would look for when looking for inspiration. His prints (my favourites being the woodcut prints) are brightly coloured and  very eye catching, giving the children who read his books brilliant additions to their inspiration.

"This Little Chick" book cover

Originally from Hastings, John also works as a teacher whilst still deciding to still pursue his main passion in life as a freelance illustrator and went on to illustrate in excess of 200 books.

Covering both general and children's illustration, John Lawrence's briefs have ranged from illustrating Shakespearean tales to the classic "Watership Down", quite a diverse portfolio.

It is clear to me how this man has made such a name for himself and even had one of his creations named New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year. One of my favourite children's illustrators whose creations really make me smile.

Joel Stewart

Joel Stewart is one of my favourite illustrators. A graduate of the Falmouth School of Art & Design, Stewart makes his living as both an illustrator and author (as well as a budding musician).

An example of Stewart's work

Dabbling with both traditional and digital media, Joel combines these and eventually reaches a fine finished stage of mainly digitally enhanced watercolour pieces which are bright and eye-catching. Mainly illustrating children's stories and publications (such as Hans Christian Andersen stories, The Adventures of Abney & Teal, The Silver Sovereign and many more), Stewart worsk both in bright, bold colours as well as using quite dark and tonal media.

I love the crisp appearance of Joel's work and how much they stand out off a page, it's no wonder that this man's work is so highly acclaimed by both his target audience and critics alike.

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Lauren Child

As the creator, author and illustrator of the children's book series "Charlie & Lola", Lauren Child MBE has been a household name for young children all over the world for well over ten years now.

The first book in the Charlie & Lola series "I Will Never
Not Ever Eat a Tomato" (2000)

The award winning series (which made it into the Top 10 all-time winners of the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal and the eventually landing third place in a public vote) spawned the start of a successful line of works for Lauren including the brilliant Clarice Bean series, the Ruby Redfort series of books and also most recently a series of books illustrating the adventures of the classic Anne of Green Gables, another highly successful series.

Having young relatives I have come across these books, especially the Charlie & Lola series frequently and have always admired the illustrations inside. I love the use of simple block colours and sparse line which are simple yet effective.

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J. Otto Seibold

Children's Illustrator J. Otto Seibold quite simple but effectively eye-catching designs have interested me for a while now. I first came across his work a couple of years ago when looking into Alice in Wonderland and found a book illustrated by him. His use of digitally-enhanced, simple and bright setting teamed with cute and expressive characters really inspired me.

An illustration from an Alice in Wonderland publication
illustrated by Seibold.

I really like the way the backgrounds of his pieces (as can be seen in the image here) are quite simple and almost solid colours apart from using lighter/darker shades to accent objects. This, teamed with his detailed and expressive character models are really appealing to me as even though the main focus is the characters, the backdrop still stands out and is interesting whilst still minimal and simple.

A really interesting designer who clearly has a lot of fun with his work which makes it fun to view and use as inspiration from time to time.

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Shirley Hughes

Shirley Hughes is an award winning English author and Illustrator who over a 50 year career has sold over 11 million copies of her 50 published books whilst using her illustrative talents to design hundred more.

Above: An image from Hughes' award winning book "Dogger" (1977)

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Liverpool-born Hughes has received wide recognition for her work to literacy and for her brilliant children's stories and collections, perhaps most notably of which being her series "Alfie" (which ran from 1981 to 2001). This collection tells stories of the eponymous character as he faces simple adventures in his everyday life (for example making friends, cheering up peers etc). A very innocent and light-hearted series of books which have captured the insterests of young children for over 30 years.

I'm a huge fan of the type of illustrations that Shirley creates, I admire the fact that the drawings are quite rough yet still managing to appear realistic with her use of colour and tone. One thing I discovered that really interested me was the original rough drawings from the Alfie collection (pre-publication):

Original rough drawings of the "Alfie" book collection.