Illustrators of Inspiration

For me, I imagine my that my dream job would be to illustrate a children's picture book. How great would it be to draw fairy tales, children and animals all day long? It's from the first picture books of my childhood that spurred my desire to be an artist. I would spend hours copying pictures from my favorite books. Still in love with the genre, I collect children's picture books just for the illustrators.

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite illustrators, starting from the first books of inspiration of my youth to some of the books I currently pour over.

This vintage Peter Pan is one of the first books to fascinate me. I remember copying this cover quite a few times. I was fortunate enough to find a copy of this book through Malfie on Artfire and was thrilled to find her located in the same city as me. In less than two days Malfie had supplied me with a small but significant piece of my childhood. Thanks . Now if she can only scout out a Wayne Anderson book for me. I would provide an image but most are protected from copying. Looking at his work, I can see that he has had a significant and early impression on my own work.

As for current illustrators...the list is so huge. Here's a very small portion of them. See if you can find a theme or look that has attracted me to them.

Lane Smith

Wayne Anderson

Mark Ryden

Ryan Heshka

Johnson and Fancher

Vlasta Van Kempen