Inspired mainly by the natural world, Hughes hopes to help children discover the joys of reading, and visits schools regularly as part of her work. Having studied illustration at Kingston University and graduated in 2005, her illustrations are mostly hand-drawn using inks, with the occasional gouache paint and pastels.

But like most children books’ illustrators, Hughes stumbled upon her vocation by chance. “I guess I never really decided I wanted to illustrate specifically for children,” she reflected in an interview with Kathy Temean. But after creating a lot of animal-based illustrations for greeting cards, the transition into character-led picture books seemed natural. “Although I’d call myself a children’s illustrator I don’t really like the idea that my work is only for a certain group of people,” she notes, “I hope that everyone can enjoy it at any stage in their life.”

As well as illustrating books for young readers, her artwork is also featured on greeting cards, gift-wrap, packaging, and stationery in countries all over the world, with her selected clients including Harper Collins, Bloomsbury Books, Anthropologie, and DengDeng Baby.

“While my illustration work is very commercial and ‘child friendly’ I’ve always had a love for heavy music and horror films,” she admits. “I like those two contradictions: the cute side and the scary side of me!”

Scroll down to see some recent highlights.

The post The Energetic Illustrations of Laura Hughes appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

For young children, books, especially picture books, open a window to other, greater worlds (including imaginary ones). If you’re looking for an original gift this holiday season, we recommend looking into Rob Hodgson’s picture book.

Based in Bristol, England, Hodgson is the author and illustrator of The Woods and The Cave, and the illustrator of An A to Z of Monsters and Magical Beings, Tattoo Time! Monster Activity, A Good Day for a Hat and Tony T-Rex’s Family Album. His books have been translated into a dozen languages and his first author/illustrated book, The Cave, was chosen by Book Trust to be given free to every reception aged child in England. So you know he’s got our seal of approval.

But according to Hodgson, he got into children’s books by mere chance. Having worked as an illustrator for years, it was only after working on a commission to illustrate someone else’s book that he fell in love with the process. “I was sent a huge (like, comedically huge) sack of kids’ book from an agent, who said he thought I’d be good at working on books,” he recalled what later happened in an interview with Deborah Kalb. “I’d never considered it before, and his gesture gave me the permission to think I could do it.”

When it comes to the creative process, Hodgson tends to stick to the same formula. “I always tend to start with the images. Usually I’ll sketch the characters in some early form, then start putting them in scenes, and then I start writing from there,” he explains. “Once there is something to jump off from, then I write and draw at the same time. Well, not exactly the same time. But you know what I mean!”

With Christmas just around the bend, you’d want to look into his work.

The post Treat Your Kids to a Rob Hodgson’s Picture Book appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Now based in Brooklyn, Silas Neal combines his passions for writing and illustrating, by working full time as an author and illustrator of picture books. His books have won a number of state and national awards, gaining him international success. He also creates book covers for adult fiction, non-fiction, and young readers, as well as art for magazines and newspapers such as Time, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.

“I really enjoy making images with a sense of magic that illicit an emotional response from the viewer—images that tug at the heart,” he shared with Inky Goodness. His images have a vintage appeal to them, and Silas Neal admits that nostalgia plays a big part in what he finds emotional and comforting.

“Even if I’m referencing an era long before I was born, those old and tattered references add a layer of nostalgia and wonder because they no longer exist,” he notes. “Through my childhood picture books and my Mother’s record collection I experienced art for the first time. They formed the foundation of my creative experience along with music videos and films. So, these childhood pop culture ephemera find their way into my work.”

He adds that like most people, his connection and inspiration are the picture books he read as a kid. “One of my favorites is Frederick by Leo Lionni,” he says. “It’s really simple and poetic. I hope to make books just as beautiful and heart warming as he did.”

Show him some love on Instagram.

The post Your Children Will Adore This Illustrator and Author appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Though now fully committed to writing and illustrating stories for children, she had originally been trained in a whole other field – as a printed textile designer. “Training and working as a printed textile designer, illustration naturally went hand in hand with designing prints,” she explained in an interview with Dulwich Festival. “I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been able to transfer this into illustrating for books.”

When it comes to her creative process itself, her work very much relies on her background in textile. “I use a lot of different processes to draw and it’s great for bringing different characters to life by way of oil pastels, mono-printed line combined with collaged pattern (often from my own stash of designs), pen and ink, paper cutting and paint,” she explains. “I quite like a blank sheet of paper and often doodle on older, more worn out bits of paper I’ve collected over the years. It adds another element to the illustration, I think.”

“At the moment I love drawing animals and have a particular penchant for drawing soft toys (old and new), building up layer upon layer of texture to give the right look and feel to the character,” she added. “I love making them look a little bit wonky and odd, giving them their own unique personality.”

Her wonky illustrations will delight your inner child:

The post Lisa Stickley Encourages Children to Enjoy Reading appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

You can see her creations below and on her Instagram page.

“I thought of the way to combine all these elements and came up with this fictional woodland where horror movie animals live. Every kid knows that wild animals are dangerous and it is a bad idea to go alone into the woods, right?”

We must admit, they are adorable!

The post Artist Draws Popular Horror Movie Characters as Cute Creatures appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Inspired mainly by the natural world, Hughes hopes to help children discover the joys of reading, and visits schools regularly as part of her work. Having studied illustration at Kingston University and graduated in 2005, her illustrations are mostly hand-drawn using inks, with the occasional gouache paint and pastels.

But like most children books’ illustrators, Hughes stumbled upon her vocation by chance. “I guess I never really decided I wanted to illustrate specifically for children,” she reflected in an interview with Kathy Temean. But after creating a lot of animal-based illustrations for greeting cards, the transition into character-led picture books seemed natural. “Although I’d call myself a children’s illustrator I don’t really like the idea that my work is only for a certain group of people,” she notes, “I hope that everyone can enjoy it at any stage in their life.”

As well as illustrating books for young readers, her artwork is also featured on greeting cards, gift-wrap, packaging, and stationery in countries all over the world, with her selected clients including Harper Collins, Bloomsbury Books, Anthropologie, and DengDeng Baby.

“While my illustration work is very commercial and ‘child friendly’ I’ve always had a love for heavy music and horror films,” she admits. “I like those two contradictions: the cute side and the scary side of me!”

Scroll down to see some recent highlights.

The post The Energetic Illustrations of Laura Hughes appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

For young children, books, especially picture books, open a window to other, greater worlds (including imaginary ones). If you’re looking for an original gift this holiday season, we recommend looking into Rob Hodgson’s picture book.

Based in Bristol, England, Hodgson is the author and illustrator of The Woods and The Cave, and the illustrator of An A to Z of Monsters and Magical Beings, Tattoo Time! Monster Activity, A Good Day for a Hat and Tony T-Rex’s Family Album. His books have been translated into a dozen languages and his first author/illustrated book, The Cave, was chosen by Book Trust to be given free to every reception aged child in England. So you know he’s got our seal of approval.

But according to Hodgson, he got into children’s books by mere chance. Having worked as an illustrator for years, it was only after working on a commission to illustrate someone else’s book that he fell in love with the process. “I was sent a huge (like, comedically huge) sack of kids’ book from an agent, who said he thought I’d be good at working on books,” he recalled what later happened in an interview with Deborah Kalb. “I’d never considered it before, and his gesture gave me the permission to think I could do it.”

When it comes to the creative process, Hodgson tends to stick to the same formula. “I always tend to start with the images. Usually I’ll sketch the characters in some early form, then start putting them in scenes, and then I start writing from there,” he explains. “Once there is something to jump off from, then I write and draw at the same time. Well, not exactly the same time. But you know what I mean!”

With Christmas just around the bend, you’d want to look into his work.

The post Treat Your Kids to a Rob Hodgson’s Picture Book appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Now based in Brooklyn, Silas Neal combines his passions for writing and illustrating, by working full time as an author and illustrator of picture books. His books have won a number of state and national awards, gaining him international success. He also creates book covers for adult fiction, non-fiction, and young readers, as well as art for magazines and newspapers such as Time, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.

“I really enjoy making images with a sense of magic that illicit an emotional response from the viewer—images that tug at the heart,” he shared with Inky Goodness. His images have a vintage appeal to them, and Silas Neal admits that nostalgia plays a big part in what he finds emotional and comforting.

“Even if I’m referencing an era long before I was born, those old and tattered references add a layer of nostalgia and wonder because they no longer exist,” he notes. “Through my childhood picture books and my Mother’s record collection I experienced art for the first time. They formed the foundation of my creative experience along with music videos and films. So, these childhood pop culture ephemera find their way into my work.”

He adds that like most people, his connection and inspiration are the picture books he read as a kid. “One of my favorites is Frederick by Leo Lionni,” he says. “It’s really simple and poetic. I hope to make books just as beautiful and heart warming as he did.”

Show him some love on Instagram.

The post Your Children Will Adore This Illustrator and Author appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

Though now fully committed to writing and illustrating stories for children, she had originally been trained in a whole other field – as a printed textile designer. “Training and working as a printed textile designer, illustration naturally went hand in hand with designing prints,” she explained in an interview with Dulwich Festival. “I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been able to transfer this into illustrating for books.”

When it comes to her creative process itself, her work very much relies on her background in textile. “I use a lot of different processes to draw and it’s great for bringing different characters to life by way of oil pastels, mono-printed line combined with collaged pattern (often from my own stash of designs), pen and ink, paper cutting and paint,” she explains. “I quite like a blank sheet of paper and often doodle on older, more worn out bits of paper I’ve collected over the years. It adds another element to the illustration, I think.”

“At the moment I love drawing animals and have a particular penchant for drawing soft toys (old and new), building up layer upon layer of texture to give the right look and feel to the character,” she added. “I love making them look a little bit wonky and odd, giving them their own unique personality.”

Her wonky illustrations will delight your inner child:

The post Lisa Stickley Encourages Children to Enjoy Reading appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.

You can see her creations below and on her Instagram page.

“I thought of the way to combine all these elements and came up with this fictional woodland where horror movie animals live. Every kid knows that wild animals are dangerous and it is a bad idea to go alone into the woods, right?”

We must admit, they are adorable!

The post Artist Draws Popular Horror Movie Characters as Cute Creatures appeared first on 5dwallpaper.com.