25 Most Talented Children’s Books Illustrators

25 Most Talented Children’s Books Illustrators

A special group of artists known as children’s book illustrators resides in the fascinating domain of children’s books, where words and imagination combine. With each stroke of their paintbrush, these exceptional artisans bring the written word to life, bringing young readers to fanciful worlds and thrilling journeys.

They blend vivid colours, charming figures, and exquisite details that ignite the flame of curiosity in young hearts with infinite inventiveness and a hint of wonder. Children’s book artists form visions and cultivate the seeds of creativity, leaving an unforgettable impression on future generations, from timeless masterpieces to modern jewels.

1. Eric Carle – The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Eric Carle (cropped).jpg Fred Rockwood, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Eric Carle, an American children’s novelist and artist, developed, drew, and wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar in 1969. The story follows a hungry caterpillar as it eats a variety of foods before pupating and emerging as a butterfly, and it contains themes that contribute to juvenile education, such as counting, the days of the week, eating, and the life cycle of a butterfly.

Since its release, it has sold over 50 million copies, been translated into over 60 languages, received several accolades, and been adapted for television. It has been hailed as “one of the greatest childhood classics of all time,” and its unique visual style has gained acclaim.

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2. Maurice Sendak – Where the Wild Things Are

26SENDAK-superJumbo.jpg Clarence Patch, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Where the Wild Things Are is a 1963 hardback children’s picture book written and drawn by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak. The novel has been converted into several forms of media, including an animated short film in 1973, an opera in 1980, and a live-action feature film version in 2009. As of 2009, the book has sold over 19 million copies worldwide, with 10 million of those sold in the United States.

In 1964, Sendak received the Caldecott Medal from the American Society of Children’s Librarians, honouring Wild Things as the previous year’s “most distinguished American picture book for children.” Not for the first time, it was selected as the best picture book in a 2012 poll of School Library Journal readers.

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3. Quentin Blake – Roald Dahl’s books

Quentin Blake.jpg Eaag14!, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sir Quentin Saxby Blake is a cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator, and children’s author from England. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 by Roald Dahl which are among his most well-known works.

In 2002, he received the biannual worldwide Hans Christian Andersen Award for his lasting contribution as a children’s illustrator, the highest honour offered to designers of children’s books. He served as the first British Children’s Laureate from 1999 to 2001. He is a member of the Illustrators Association.

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4. Chris Van Allsburg – The Polar Express, Jumanji

Chris van Allsburg – Northborough MA 12-2011.jpgTim Pierce, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chris Van Allsburg is a children’s book author and artist from the United States. He holds two Caldecott Medals for picture book artwork in the United States, for Jumanji (1981) and The Polar Express (1985), both of which he also penned and were later made into popular feature films.

In 1980, he was a Caldecott runner-up for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi. He was a 1986 U.S. nominee for the biannual worldwide Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest worldwide accolade for designers of children’s books, for his contribution as a children’s illustrator. In April 2012, he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters by the University of Michigan.

5. Dr Seuss – The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham

Theodor Seuss Geisel (01037v).jpg Library of Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Theodor Seuss Geisel was a children’s novelist and cartoonist from the United States. He is most known for authoring and drawing over 60 books under the pen name Dr Seuss. Many of his works are among the most successful children’s books of all time, having sold over 600 million copies and been translated into more than 20 languages by the time he died.

Geisel took on the moniker “Dr Seuss” while an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and as a graduate student at Oxford’s Lincoln College. He left Oxford in 1927 to work as an artist and cartoonist for Vanity Fair, Life, and other magazines.

6.  Beatrix Potter – The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Beatrix Potter by King cropped.jpg Charles G.Y. King (1854-1937), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Helen Beatrix Potter was a writer, artist, natural scientist, and environmentalist from England. She is most renowned for her animal-themed children’s novels, such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit, her first commercially published work in 1902.

Her publications, including 23 Tales, have sold over 250 million copies worldwide. Potter, an entrepreneur, was a pioneer in character merchandise. Peter Rabbit was the first literary figure to be copyrighted as a stuffed toy in 1903, making him the oldest licensed character.

7. Oliver Jeffers – Lost and Found, How to Catch a Star

Oliver Jeffers.JPG Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Oliver Brendan Jeffers is a Northern Irish artist, illustrator, and writer of Australian origin who now lives and works in Brooklyn. He attended Hazelwood College, an integrated secondary school, before graduating from the University of Ulster in 2001.

He is well-known for his children’s picture books, which have been published by HarperCollins UK and Penguin US. How to Catch a Star premiered to critical acclaim in 2004, and Lost and Found (2005) received the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize Gold Medal in 2006, the Blue Peter Book Award in 2006, and was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal the same year.

8. Jon Klassen – I Want My Hat Back, This Is Not My Hat

Jon klassen 2012.jpg Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jon Klassen is a Canadian children’s book author, illustrator, and animator. He was awarded both the American Caldecott Medal and the British Kate Greenaway Medal for children’s book illustration in 2012, for the picture book This Is Not My Hat, which he also penned. He is the only individual to get both prizes for the same piece of work.

This Is Not My Hat is a sequel to Klassen’s previous picture book, I Want My Hat Back (2011), his first as both author and artist. Both novels spent more than 40 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list; by April 2014, one or both had been translated into 22 languages, and they had together sold one million copies worldwide.

9. Shaun Tan – The Arrival, The Lost Thing

Shaun Tan 2011-05-22 002 (cropped).jpg Stefan Tell, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Australian artist, author, and director Shaun Tan works in these fields. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Lost Thing, an animated feature film adaptation of a 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated. Additionally, he wrote and illustrated The Red Tree and The Arrival.

In 2006, the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards presented him with the Book of the Year honour for his wordless graphic book The Arrival. The Children’s Title Council of Australia selected the same title Picture Book of the Year in 2007. received the 2006 Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards Premier’s Prize.

10. Tomie dePaola – Strega Nona, The Art Lesson

More than 260 children’s books, including Strega Nona, were written and illustrated by American author and illustrator Thomas Anthony “Tomie” dePaola. For his lifelong contribution to American children’s writing, he was given the Children’s Writing Legacy Award in 2011.

11. Ashley Bryan – Freedom Over Me, Beautiful Blackbird

Ashley Bryan 01.jpg Sue Hill, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

An American author and children’s book artist named Ashley Frederick Bryan. His topics typically relate to the African-American experience. He received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contribution to American children’s literature in 2009 after serving as the United States nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006. His children’s book Freedom Over Me got a Newbery Honor and made the 2016 Kirkus Prize shortlist.

12. Emily Gravett – Meerkat Mail, Wolves

Picture book author and artist Emily Gravett is from England. She earned the annual Kate Greenaway Medal for the best-illustrated British children’s book for the years 2005’s Wolves and 2008’s Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears.

The books by Gravett are interactive. In order to “simulate the impact of the wolf’s teeth,” she urged the domestic dog to chew on the dummy for Wolves. She chewed it herself when that failed to work.

13. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck

D03 9553 Brian Selznick.jpg Avery Jensen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

As the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007), Wonderstruck (2011), The Marvels (2015), and Kaleidoscope (2021), Brian Selznick is an American artist and writer.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret earned him the 2008 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book artwork. He is particularly well-known for his work on children’s books, including the Harry Potter series editions published by Scholastic on their 20th anniversary.

14. Sophie Blackall – Finding Winnie, Hello Lighthouse

Australian illustrator, novelist, and children’s book author Sophie Jocasta Blackall resides in Brooklyn, New York. She started working with writers to illustrate children’s books. The Ezra Jack Keats Book Award was given to Shirin Yim Bridges’ first illustrated book, Ruby’s Wish, in 2003. She eventually started penning her own children’s books in addition to carrying on with her collaborative work.

Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found (2011), her debut book for adults, was based on a blog for anonymous letters sent online by lonely strangers. In addition to creating a poster for the MTA Arts for Transit program that was shown the next year in New York City subway carriages, she also created a series of paintings for the book based on some of these statements.

15. Jerry Pinkney – The Lion and the Mouse, The Tortoise & the Hare

Jerry Pinkney is a children’s book author and artist from the United States. Pinkney has illustrated over 100 books, including novels, nonfiction books, and picture books, since 1964. Pinkney’s paintings, which dealt with a range of topics, were largely done in watercolours.

Pinkney won the Boston Globe-Horn Novel Award in 1994 for her novel John Henry. He has also received five Coretta Scott King Illustration Awards. In 2010, he received the Caldecott Medal for his book The Lion and the Mouse.

Pinkney received the Virginia Hamilton Literary Award from Kent State University in 2000, and the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion in 2004 for his outstanding contributions to children’s literature.

16. Mo Willems – Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Elephant & Piggie series

Mo Willems Mazza Fall Conference 2012.jpg Alvintrusty, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mo Willems is a writer, animator, voice actor, and children’s book author from the United States. He created the Cartoon Network animated television series Sheep in the Big City, worked on Sesame Street and The Off-Beats, and wrote the classic children’s book series Elephant and Piggie.

Willems was a youngster when he first became interested in cartoon art. He began drawing and creating his own characters when he was about three or four years old. Willems loves telling stories about his characters to others.

To resolve this quandary Willems began creating humorous stories. Even polite grownups couldn’t fake a chuckle, he realized. He knew his narrative was good when the adults chuckled.

17. Patricia Polacco – Pink and Say, Thank You, Mr Falker

Patricia Barber Polacco is a writer and illustrator from the United States. Polacco struggled with reading throughout her school years but found solace in expressing herself through painting.

Polacco endured bullying and disguised her condition until a teacher detected her inability to read and began to assist her. Thank You, Mr Falker is Polacco’s account of the incident and its consequences. She also penned Mr Lincoln’s Way and The Lemonade Club.

18. Kadir Nelson – We Are the Ship, The Undefeated

Kadir Nelson 2017.jpg Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Kadir Nelson is a Los Angeles-based painter, illustrator, and novelist best known for his drawings that have appeared on the covers of The New Yorker magazine as well as Michael Jackson and Drake album covers. His work is mostly concerned with African-American culture and history.

According to the New York Times, his art is “sumptuous, deeply affecting.” Nelson’s paintings are saturated with atmosphere and frequently overt symbolism. He has received two Caldecott Honors and the 2020 Caldecott Medal for his book The Undefeated.

19. Lane Smith – It’s a Book, Grandpa Green

Lane Smith is a children’s book illustrator and author from the United States. He is the 2017 Kate Greenaway Medalist, recognized for his varied graphics and subject matter, both comical and serious, such as the thoughtful Grandpa Green, which got a Caldecott Honor in 2012, and the absurd Stinky Cheese Man, who received a Caldecott Honor in 1992.

20. Marla Frazee – All the World, The Boss Baby

Marla Frazee.jpg Tim Bradley, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Marla Fraze is a children’s book author and artist from the United States. She has garnered two Caldecott Honors for her work on picture books.

Frazee illustrated her first published book, Sue Alexander’s World-Famous Muriel and the Magic Mystery, in 1990. Frazee illustrated That Kookoory!, penned by Margaret Walden Froehlich, after Muriel. Her work was praised in the Horn Book Magazine, a periodical dedicated to children’s and young-adult fiction.

Frazee’s first book, The Boss Baby, was released in the fall of 2007. The Boss Baby received more than three starred reviews in total. In March 2017, DreamWorks Animation released an animated feature film partly based on the novel, with a sequel following in July 2021.

21. Christian Robinson – Last Stop on Market Street, Another

Christian Robinson 2018.jpg Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Christian Robinson is a children’s book illustrator and animator from the United States. He lives in Sacramento, California, and has previously worked with The Sesame Street Workshop and Pixar Animation Studios. He received his bachelor’s degree from the California Institute of the Arts.

Another, his 2019 picture book, was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Bank Street Children’s Book Committee in 2020 and won an “Outstanding Merit” award.

22. David Wiesner – Tuesday, Flotsam

David Wiesner 2011.jpg Alvintrusty, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

David Wiesner is a children’s book illustrator and author from the United States. He is best known for his picture books, some of which convey stories without using words.

As an illustrator, he has received three Caldecott Medals for the year’s “most distinguished American picture book for children,” and he was one of five finalists in 2008 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest honor available for children’s book creators.

23. Sydney Smith – Sidewalk Flowers, Small in the City

Sydney Smith – M.H.R. for Macquarie.jpgNational Library of Australia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sydney Smith was a humorist, writer, and Anglican preacher from England. In addition to his intense parish work, he was noted for his writing and philosophy, creating the Edinburgh Review, speaking at the Royal Institution, and being famous for his rhyming salad dressing recipe.

24. Yuyi Morales – Dreamers, Viva Frida

Yuyi Morales 2022 Texas Book Festival.jpg Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Yuyi Morales is a Mexican-American illustrator and author of children’s books. She is well known for her books Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book, Little Night, and Viva Frida, which won the 2015 Pura Belpre Medal and a Caldecott Honor. Morales is the first Latina to get the Caldecott Medal.

Kathleen Krull’s text for Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez was Morales’ first English-language picture book effort in 2003. Sue Morgan of School Library Journal lauded Morales’ “beautifully rendered earth-tone illustrations,” while Traci Todd of Booklist hailed the book’s “gorgeous paintings, with their rounded, organic forms and lush, gemstone hues.” Just a Minute, Morales’ first self-illustrated work, was also released in 2003.

25. Peter Brown – The Wild Robot, Mr Tiger Goes Wild

Peter Brown is a well-known American author and artist of children’s picture books. In 2013, he received a Caldecott Honor for his illustration of Creepy Carrots!

He relocated to New York City in 2002 after graduation to be closer to the publishing sector. He was working on animated TV series when he obtained a book deal to write and draw his first picture book, Flight of the Dodo.

Petre has received a Caldecott Honor, a Horn Book Award, two E.B. White Awards, two E.B. White Honors, a Children’s Choice Award for Illustrator of the Year, two Irma Black Honors, a Golden Kite Award, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, and numerous New York Times bestsellers.

Illustrators are the crafters of dreams, the builders of wonder, and the keepers of magic in the fabric of children’s books. Their craftsmanship transcends the pages, creating a passion for storytelling and lighting the fires of imagination in young minds. Children’s book artists establish an enduring legacy via their timeless works, motivating generations to explore, dream, and trust in the power of their own imaginations.

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