Illustrator Interviews
It's time to get to know your favorite (or soon to be favorite) illustrators by reading our exclusive interviews! Get ready to feast your eyes on some truly super artwork.
Artwork is a very important part of children’s books, especially picture books and graphic novels, and now many chapter books too. When you read an illustrator interview on The Children’s Book Review, you’ll often get an insiders look or a behind the scenes visit of the illustrator’s studio and creative process. You could also learn how the illustrator’s own life experiences shaped their artwork and storytelling abilities, or what their most used art supply is, or which children’s book character they would love to create artwork with. With so many featured illustrators, there is certainly something for everyone here, but we wonder which illustrators will be or are your faves. Be sure to let us know through our Twitter handle, and share your thoughts with us on Instagram or Facebook with #thechildrensbookreview.
To get you started, here are some of our more recent illustrator interviews:
Illustration Inspiration: Renée Graef, Illustrator of Thérèse Makes a Tapestry
Caldecott Honor-Winning John Rocco Talks About Blizzard
Deborah Underwood and Claudia Rueda Discuss Here Comes the Easter Cat
Be sure to peruse through the illustrator interviews below, you’ll be so glad you did!
Nathan Hale is the #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales series, including Alamo All-Stars.
Orit Bergman is an illustrator and a writer of children’s books, including The Chameleon that Saved Noah’s Ark. Her work has been featured in many exhibitions and won numerous awards.
This adorable picture book celebrating important life events is the perfect gift for third birthdays.
To celebrate First Second Books and the rise of graphic novels, we thought it would be fun to have graphic novelist veteran, Leland Myrick, who has been with First Second from the beginning, and Andy Hirsch, a 2016 debut graphic novelist, interview each other.
Renée Graef has illustrated over seventy books for children, including the Kirsten series in the American Girl collection and many of the My First Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She splits her time between Los Angeles and Milwaukee.
Picture book extraordinaire Tara Lazar and the frightfully creative S. Britt interview each other about Normal Norman (Sterling Children’s Books, 2016), a laugh-out-loud book that explores the meaning of normal through the study of an exceptionally strange orangutan.
Patrice Barton’s artistic talents were discovered at age three when she was found creating a mural on the wall of her dining room with a pastry brush and a can of Crisco.
This gem comes to us from Kim Krans, the creator of The Wild Unknown—a lifestyle website offering prints, calendars, and more.
Jackie Morris lives in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with children, dogs and cats. Her latest book is the retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Wild Swans.
What drove you to start creating children’s books?
A revolt! When I had my first child, children’s books looked like some stupid marketing thing.