5 Favorite Children’s Illustrators

You may remember how my Greek edition of Whisker Smile, published by Patakis Publishers, has won the prestigious IBBY award for illustration.

Today I have 5 of my favorite children’s illustrators, selected from a post by Domestika.

Maurice Sendak

Where The Wild Things Are made Maurice Sendak a star of children’s illustration. His work was at first considered too grotesque and offensive for children, but many fell in love with them. One young boy’s reaction to Maurice’s work was totally unexpected and some of the best praise the storyteller ever received:

“A little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters – sometimes very hastily – but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, ‘Dear Jim: I loved your card.’ Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said: ‘Jim loved your card so much he ate it.’ That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

E. H. Shepard

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”

Winnie the Pooh’s words, written, of course, by A. A. Milne could well be applied to the work of the artist who drew him first. His delicate sketches live long in the minds and hearts of the many generations who have been enjoying them for almost a century.

Dr. Seuss

You may have thought he was a fictional character, but Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Ted, but most commonly known as Dr. Seuss, is quite real indeed. He published over 60 books during a career that spanned World War Two. Those tales and Seuss’ idiosyncratic turn of phrase have inspired countless interpretations, 11 TV specials, four TV series, five feature films, and a Broadway musical known as a Seussical.

Beatrix Potter

A woman born into Britain’s upper classes, Beatrix Potter was educated by a governess and grew up isolated from other children. Instead, she turned to nature and animals for company, and her paintings would become renowned worldwide as the charming illustrations of her stories like The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Quentin Blake

The scrawling illustrations of Quentin Blake are inseparable from Roald Dahl and the stories he wrote, ostensibly, for children. In 2008, David Walliams, of Little Britain fame, managed to persuade Blake to use his inimitable style to illustrate his book The Boy in the Dress, the story about a young boy who likes to crossdress and the reactions this provokes in his friends and family.

5 Favorite Children’s Illustrators