Meet the Illustrator: Simon Howe

Name, title, location:
My name is Simon Howe. I'm the author/illustrator of four picture books and illustrator of many others. I live in the Macedon Ranges inVictoria, Australia.

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
I’d say my illustration style is painterly, cosy and inviting.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
An oil heater. Warm lighting. Lots of framed pictures on the wall. Endless cups of tea.

Meet the Illustrator: Anna Wilson

Name, title, location:
Anna Wilson, illustrator, Edinburgh, UK

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Atmospheric, carefully coloured and observed,

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
A sketchbook, lots of ink, gouache, ink, crayons, markers, acrylic paint, watercolour and old brushes. Paper too. And a scanner.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I love mixing everything together. Sometimes I think I should master a particular medium, but I just really enjoy playing with everything I can find in front of me - often searching for a colour, rather than a material, and then layering things on top of one another. 

I’ve never been very patient, so I like to start with things that cover the paper quickly and then refine it more slowly on top with things that build on whatever I started with.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
This is a very hard question. And I think I would have a different answer every day I was asked. But…

Growing up in Australia, I loved Mirka Mora. I loved her urban lifestyle and the world she created as a female artist, as well as her wonderful colours. Another Australian artist who inspired me when I was young was Jessie Trail, the printmaker who made incredible etchings of the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I loved her observation of this technical process and I have always loved printmaking.

Picturebook artists whose work I love include Laura Carlin, Carson Ellis, Anne Brouillard, M Sasek, Eva Lindstrom, Marine Schneider, Beatrice Alemagne, Sophie Blackall … That's more than three. Sorry.

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
I think I’m going to just say now. I find so much inspiration everywhere and feel so lucky to be making images today. It is not that it is a perfect climate to be an art maker, but I am so inspired by many people around me who are making work despite the challenges. 

I also think it’s more important than ever to share our observations as humans with everyone else in the world. Human hand and touch and eye are such a key part of our shared humanity. I feel the need to celebrate these things right now.

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
The world inspired me. I think I have always loved observing the world - watching it go past a train window, watching the way people cross their legs (or not) under tables, watching colours change in different places and different seasons and watching how the weather affects lives. I can’t help but want to make pictures of these things I observe. I find the world utterly remarkable and want to share what I see.

Share a photo of your creative workspace or part of the area where you work most often. Talk us through it.
I actually don’t have one of these at the moment. I am quite nomadic and have been between homes for the last year and working in very odd spaces. Usually though, I just have a table covered with way too many things. I will share a photo of my last workspace table when I was working on something. 

You can always find lots of cups of half-drunk tea, too many colours, and whatever I’m working on, plus my computer often balanced precariously behind it all.

Or, my other workspace and one I treat very carefully, is the world. I get most of my inspiration and ideas from sitting out in the streets or fields or clifftops wherever I am based, drawing the world around me.

What is your favourite part of the illustration process? Talk us through it.
The main painting. I don’t like roughs much (although sometimes they look better than the final work). When I don’t have to do too many roughs and can just jump straight in with colours on the paper I feel happiest and the work comes out best.

I tend to work in lots and lots of layers. First getting shapes down and then building up the colour on top. Here I'm starting to lay the brighter colours on top of the shapes of the animals in the water. On my screen is a zoomed-in part of my rough that had been approved for the publisher. 

My desk also nearly always looks this messy. I have no idea how people work with clean desks!

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
I think just don’t stop drawing and sharing, drawing and sharing. Draw what you love and draw what interests you, and then draw these things again, and again. And then share it. It doesn’t really matter how you share - whether it’s online or sending postcards or things to people - but I think I have grown so much by making, making, making, but also sharing. Putting things out into the world can be vulnerable, but it is also how connections are made. And then, just don’t stop. Whoever doesn’t stop will get to keep going.

Anna Wilson is an Australian illustrator and designer who has spent most of her life travelling the world. She loves storms and snow and is happiest running in the mountains, drawing in the streets of new cities, or imagining new characters and worlds. She is currently based in Edinburgh.

The Festival of Ice & Snow, written by Angie Cui, is Anna's latest publication.

Anna's website is a delightful excursion into colour and whimsical reflection, and well worth a visit. (There is an online shop you can sign up to, for notifications when it is next open!) You can also find Anna on Instagram or follow her journey through her Substack newsletter.

Meet the Illustrator: Brenton E. McKenna

Name, title, location
Brenton E. McKenna, Author/Illustrator, Broome, Western Australia

Describe your illustration style in ten words or fewer.
Manga, Marvel and Disney meet Kimberley kid bush graffiti.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My blue graphite pen, an empty scrapbook and heaps of random reference material.

Meet the Illustrator: Clare Yang

Name, title, location
Clare Yang, Picture Book Illustrator, Sydney, Australia

Describe your illustration style in ten words or fewer.
Warm, observant, playful, nature-filled stories with gentle humour.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
An iPad, sketchbooks, traditional art materials and a growing wall of picture books are always within reach. 

However, the real heroes are my ergonomic chair and iPad stand. I spent the last three months illustrating my second picture book almost entirely in Procreate, and honestly, I don't think my shoulders or back would have survived without them.

Meet the Illustrator: Peter Carnavas

Name, title, location

Peter Carnavas, Author/Illustrator, 

Brisbane (Australia)

Describe your illustration style in ten words or fewer.
Pen and watercolour, preferably small. (I fear big backgrounds.)

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
The most essential items for me are the usual things – brushes, pens, papers. 

I draw everything with 2H pencils first, building up the illustration. (See the progress below)

Otherwise, all I need is just a comfortable chair, a good lamp, cups of tea and my dog Florence.

Meet the Illustrator: Freya Blackwood

Name, title, location 

Freya Blackwood, author/illustrator, Orange, NSW

Describe your illustration style in ten words or fewer. 

Emotive and warm, loose linework, perceptive.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
I need a desk on a slant, with my reference material and inspiration around me in a bit nest-like arrangement. I like to have the things I’ve collected nearby, things that feel like ‘me’.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Probably watercolour with coloured pencil over the top, but I like using oil paints for illustrations too, especially with a thick brush so I can’t be too precise. I like my drawn pencil lines to stay visible.

Meet The Illustrator: Cate James

Name, title, location:
Cate James, author/illustrator, Northern Beaches, Sydney

Describe your illustration style in ten words or fewer.
Contemporary, with a nod to books I grew up with.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Wacom tablet and iMac, light box, one million pencils and two sausage dogs

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Drawing and screen printing

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Quentin Blake, Andy Warhol and Jon Klassen

Meet the Illustrator: Triandhika Anjani

Name, title, location: Triandhika Anjani, illustrator, Canberra

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Nostalgic, whimsical, full of contrast.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
The good old sketchbook, pencil and eraser. Oh, plus some drawing pens. And then there's my trusted iPad, with all my usual drawing apps installed. Last but not least, my laptop to finish everything off.

Meet the Illustrator: Meredith Downes

Name: Meredith Downes

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Digital three-dimensional painting, with a focus on narrative in nature.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Sketchbook and pencils for early drawings and storyboarding, laptop and pen display for illustration, a solid block of time.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
I definitely prefer working digitally. I experiment a lot on the 'page' and would go through too much paper if I tried to do the same thing in pencil or using some other physical medium. I also love the freedom and flexibility of instantly changing what I am doing and how I am doing it.

Meet The Illustrator: Aśka

Name: Aśka 

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Fast, energetic, loud, cornucopia of emotions (both big and subtle).

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Most of my work is digital so a comfy set up is essential: a good chair, big non-reflective screen, and some reliable and well-loved retro tech. I also have copious amounts of one-sided/recycled paper for printing out countless samples and for biro-sketches.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Black ink. When I was younger, I worked with the nib pen but being left-handed and pretty messy, the ink would often take over the whole work space (and me!). 

Today I love using brush pens. Their contained nature means the mess usually only travels as far as my elbow. There is something wonderful about the unwieldiness of ink and how big the role of chance in an ink drawing is. It’s something I struggle to reproduce onscreen.

Meet The Illustrator: Hannah Powell Fryer

Name: Hannah Powell Fryer (HP Fryer)

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Hand-drawn, detailed with fun and a sense of humour.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My iPad is becoming pretty essential. I’ll always love traditional mediums (especially gouache) but Procreate is so much easier when it comes to juggling mum-life with illustration. At the moment I’m enjoying drawing with pencil on tracing paper (I like the texture) scanning that in and then adding colour in Procreate. This gives me a balance of traditional and digital. So- pencils, tracing paper and my scanner are essential too.

Meet The Illustrator: Sarah Ang

Name: Sarah Ang

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Traditional, timeless, detailed, delicate, whimsical.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
I love collecting beautifully illustrated children’s picture books, even ones in different languages, for inspiration. A window to gaze out of to ponder the world, and to have natural lighting. Elements of nature around me to calm and inspire me.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Chinese black ink and watercolours.

Meet The Illustrator: Sarah Zweck

Name: Sarah Zweck

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Playful, dynamic movement with an emphasis on fun and learning.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Space! I’m lucky to have a large, bright studio at home with my materials within easy reach. I also enjoy listening to a podcast or audio book whilst I work.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
If I had to choose, it would probably be paint (any kind). As part of my practise, I enjoy experimenting with material play.

Meet The Illustrator: Hélène Magisson

Name: Helene Magisson

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Whimsical, dreamy, poetic, delicate, timeless, charming, ethereal.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My window is essential. It's open in every sense of the word. Open to let light pour in, open to the world outside. My books are also necessary. Art books and picture books from all over the world, always within reach to get inspiration. Then there are all the tools of my creative process: paper, brushes, paints, a scanner, my tablet, and an iPad for listening to audiobooks during the colouring phase. And of course, a mug for the hundreds of tea breaks I need throughout the day.

Meet The Illustrator: Tannya Harricks

Name: Tannya Harricks

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.

Textured, painterly, loose and expressive.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Natural light. Paper and pencil – where every idea begins. 

Books are essential in a creative space. I am surrounded by my art books and often listening to an audiobook while I work. 

Dogs. I have 3 dogs, so there is usually one or two lying under my feet and happy for some attention when I need to take a break.

Announcement: Love Your Bookshop Day 2025!

Ngiyampaa/Ngemba, Dutch and Irish artist Emma Sjaan Beukers brings the magic of bookshops to life for Love Your Bookshop Day

BookPeople, the association representing Australian booksellers, has today unveiled the official theme and artwork for this year’s national Love Your Bookshop Day(LYBD) campaign, created by artist Emma Sjaan Beukers, whose Ngiyampaa/Ngemba, Dutch and Irish heritage informs her vibrant, storytelling approach.

Following a public call-out to local illustrators across the country, the association commissioned the Naarm-based artist to bring to life the 2025 theme – Discover the magic. Discover you.

Meet The Illustrator: Gemma Creegan

Name: Gemma Creegan

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Quirky, whimsical, playful, cute, nostalgic

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
I mostly create digitally so my ipad, apple pencil and sources of inspiration such as photos, picture books and sometimes background music. I also need lots of tea and snacks to keep me going.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Since I got my apple pencil two years ago, I have been mostly creating digitally but from time to time I dabble in other mediums and particularly enjoy using Japanese watercolours.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
This is a tough one as there are so many and I’m discovering new artists all the time. Top of the list will always be Beatrix Potter, Tove Jansson and Ludwig Bemelmans.

Meet The Illustrator: Dani G

Name: Dani G

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Quirky, fun, bold colours, colourful, Australiana, stark, different, organic.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My desktop computer with the Adobe Creative Suite, Ipad and Apple pencil. Walls printed with photographs of my inspiration.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium
Although I work digitally, I do love traditional media such as printmaking using lino tiles and ink. I also love working with paper and oil pastels and getting messy with a mixed media approach.

Meet The Illustrator: Michèle Dodd

Name: Michèle Dodd

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less:
Semi realistic, quirky, colourful and totally original

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
A beautiful view, Lyra pencils, watercolours, scalpel, Lyra .25 lead pencil, a make-up brush to remove dust, paintbrushes and a Staedtler rubber.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Pencil and watercolour.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Van Gogh, Maurice Sendak and Julie Vivas

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
Would have to be when The Heidelberg School artists were in full swing creating amazing Australian landscapes at their artist camps in the Heidelberg area - late 1880’s to early 1890’s.

Meet The Illustrator: Mirka Hokkanen

Name: Mirka Hokkanen

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Happy, positive, cute, soft, nature centric and colourful.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
No interruptions, quiet, writing/drawing tool and something to write on. It could be digital, or it could be pencil and paper. Lastly, some items of inspiration for a jumping off point. That could be an illustration I like, a book, a photo or a memory.