tell me about your favorite illustrators

[lirazel]

I recently got a beautiful edition of The Secret Garden illustrated by Tasha Tudor. I've always loved Tudor, both her books/illustrations and her lifestyle¹ and it's a delight to own this book.

It got me thinking about illustrators whose pictures really stick in my mind. I'm very basic in my tastes; I don't tend to be into stuff that's too experimental or avant-garde tbh.

Many of my favorites actually illustrated chapter books for children. These tend to be line drawings, among which my favorites are:
+ Beth and Joe Krush (The Borrowers series, Gone-Away Lake, at least one All-of-a-Kind Family book)
+ John R. Neill (the Oz books)
+ Vera Neville (the older Betsy-Tacy books)

But of course picture books are the real world of illustrators. These are more about colors for me. Some of my favorites (both from my childhood and ones I've discovered through reading to my niblings) are:
+ Fred H. Crump (fairytale retellings)
+ Jill Barklem (Brambly Hedge)
+ Molly Idle (Flora and the [Bird] series)
+ Tasha Tudor (Pumpkin Moonshine)
+ Eric Carle (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
+ Ezra Jack Keats (The Snowy Day)
+ James Gurney (Dinotopia)
+ Aaron Becker (the Worldless books)


I am also very fond of the covers illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, which are not my normal style of art but are so striking and memorable that I adore them. Especially the ones for Monica Furlong's books.

Note that this isn't a list of favorite books from my childhood--I'm talking specifically about the pictures.

Please share with me some beloved illustrators from your life!


¹ Now that I think about it, she basically invented cottage core. She would do NUMBERS on Instagram today.