Tove Marika Jansson was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. Brought up by artistic parents, Jansson studied art from 1930 to 1938 in Helsinki, Stockholm, and Paris. She held her first solo art exhibition in 1943. Over the same period, she penned short stories and articles for publication, and subsequently drew illustrations for book covers, advertisements, and postcards. She continued her work as an artist and writer for the rest of her life.
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images.
Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his lasting contribution as a children's illustrator he won the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. From 1999 to 2001, he was the inaugural British Children's Laureate. He is a patron of the Association of Illustrators.
Warren Chappell was an American illustrator, book and type designer, and author.
The children's books of Enid Blyton were illustrated by a large number of artists, ranging from figures known for other work to humbler commercial artists, who in some cases were anonymous. Since the Blyton texts mainly used very simple language, the work of the illustrators was an important part of the appeal of many of the works.
Chris Riddell is a South African-born English illustrator and occasional writer of children's books and a political cartoonist for the Observer. He has won three Kate Greenaway Medals - the British librarians' annual award for the best-illustrated children's book, and two of his works were commended runners-up, a distinction dropped after 2002.
Fritz Kredel was a German, later American artist and graphic designer.
Leslie Wood was an English artist and illustrator who lived in Poynton, Cheshire.
Lara Kate Jones was a British artist, children's author and illustrator. She is best remembered for her Poppy Cat series of children's books, which have been published in 20 languages and sold over two and a half million copies.
Anthony Edward Tudor Browne is a British writer and illustrator of children's books, primarily picture books. Browne has written or illustrated over fifty books, and received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2000. From 2009 to 2011 he was Children's Laureate.
Mika Launis is a Finnish illustrator and graphic designer who studied graphic design at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. For his final project, he did the illustrations for a children's book written in Northern Sámi. Launis has illustrated several books, mainly children's books. In addition, he has provided illustrations for book covers, of which his most well-known are probably the covers of the Finnish versions of the Harry Potter books. Some of his works have also been published as postage stamps. Launis was the 1997 recipient of the Rudolf Koivu Award, which is awarded to illustrations in children's and young adult books. Furthermore, he won the competition to design Finland's first Euro postage stamp.
Rosa Clementina Petherick was a British book illustrator.
Koivu is a Finnish surname meaning "birch". Notable people with the surname include:
Alenka Sottler is a Slovene painter and illustrator. She lives and works in Ljubljana as a freelance illustrator and is a member of New York Society of Illustrators. She has illustrated over 50 books for children and adults, for which she received numerous awards and honours including her second nomination for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2014.
Desmond Ward Digby was a New Zealand-born Australian stage designer, painter and illustrator of children's books.
Gavin John Bishop is an author and illustrator, from Invercargill, New Zealand. He is known for illustrating books from prominent New Zealand authors, including Joy Cowley and Margaret Mahy. Bishop's first published picture book was Mrs McGinty and the Bizarre Plant, published in 1981 by Oxford University Press.
John Bonar Dunlop ARBS (1916–1992) was a New Zealand artist, sculptor, and illustrator who excelled at figurative work. He later became known for his sculptures of New Zealand and Welsh rugby players.
Camilla Mickwitz was a Finland-Swedish writer, illustrator, and animator. Mickwitz wrote children's literature, usually addressing family and social issues.
Jirina Marton is a Czech-born Canadian artist and illustrator.
Kim LaFave is a Canadian children's book illustrator and artist. LaFave started his illustration career in media before his first children's drawings appeared in the 1981 book The Mare's Egg. From the 1980s to 2000s, his drawings appeared in over 40 children's books. As an artist, LaFave painted landscapes, boats and snow from the 2000s to 2020s. He also was a member of Eleven Equal Artists during the 2010s.
