Best illustrated books all over the world
Once upon a time, a shaggy black Bada lived in a little house by a pond. He lived well, but then zoks appeared — and that was the end of his peaceful life. Bada decided to raise the zoks properly: morning washing, exercise, healthy food. But there turned out to […]
Julia Gukova is an artist and illustrator, also working in easel painting. She studied at the Krasnopresnenskaya Art School and later trained in painting and graphics under Alisa Poret, Nikolai Popov, and Sofya Gannushkina. From 1979 to 1984, she studied at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute (Department of Book Design). Her […]
Cliff Roberts (1929–1999) was an American cartoonist, animator, and illustrator. He began his career in commercial advertising, working as a freelance artist and photographer while also producing comics and illustrations for magazines, including Playboy and The New Yorker. Roberts later moved into animation, where he worked as a designer and […]
Chris Riddell (b. 1962) is a British illustrator, author, and political cartoonist. He was born in Cape Town, South Africa, into a family of an Anglican clergyman, and moved to England as a child. He studied illustration at the Brighton Polytechnic, where he developed his distinctive drawing style. Riddell is […]
The Little Humpbacked Horse by Pyotr Yershov, a classic 19th-century Russian fairy tale in verse, has always been a challenging text for illustrators. It shifts quickly from humor to fantasy, from everyday scenes to full-scale fairy tale, and not every artist manages to hold all of this together. The 1993 […]
Sergey Lazarevich Chinenov (b. 1952) is a Russian graphic artist and book illustrator. He was born in Petrozavodsk and graduated from the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), one of the leading art schools in Russia. Chinenov has illustrated numerous children’s books, often working […]
At the end of the 19th century, Randolph Caldecott changed how picture books worked. Instead of treating illustrations as decoration, he made them part of the storytelling itself — adding movement, timing, and humor that the text alone doesn’t carry. This approach became a turning point for children’s books. The […]
Randolph Caldecott (1846–1886) was a British artist and illustrator, after whom one of the most prestigious American awards in children’s illustrated literature — the Caldecott Medal — was established in 1938. Caldecott worked primarily as a book illustrator and had a major influence on the development of children’s picture books […]
Harry Clarke (1889–1931) was an Irish artist, book illustrator, and stained glass designer. He was born in Dublin and is considered one of the notable representatives of the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. Clarke was the son of craftsman Joshua Clarke and showed an early interest in art. He studied […]
A little girl and her loyal stuffed chimpanzee Jubilee spend their days watching birds, climbing trees, and tirelessly exploring the world around them. Patrick McDonnell portrays the childhood of Jane Goodall through these small, everyday moments: reading about Tarzan, hiding in a chicken coop to find out where eggs come […]
Patrick McDonnell (born 1956) is an American cartoonist, author, and playwright. He is best known as the creator of the long-running comic strip Mutts, launched in 1994 and widely syndicated in newspapers. Before that, he created the comic Bad Baby, which ran for about a decade in Parents magazine. McDonnell […]
The collection of Sámi folktales Seven-Year-Old Archer was published in 1990 by the Murmansk publishing house. The book contains twenty-six traditional stories. Although the illustrations differ slightly in color and style from some of Tsikota’s other works, his unmistakable artistic voice remains — once you have seen Tsikota’s drawings, they […]
Valery Tsikota (1951–2004) was a Leningrad artist and book illustrator. He studied at the Secondary Art School attached to the Repin Institute of Painting Sculpture and Architecture and graduated successfully from the institute in 1976. In addition to illustration, he worked in publishing and served as editor-in-chief of several magazines, […]
Tamara Yufa (1937–2022) was a Russian artist and book illustrator. She was born in the Lipetsk region and graduated from the Leningrad Art Pedagogical College. After completing her studies, she taught drafting and drawing at a school in the поселок of Ladva; at that time she created her first illustrations […]
Leo Dillon (1933 — 2012) was an American illustrator and artist, best known for his long partnership with his wife, Diane Dillon. He was born on March 2, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York to Trinidadian parents and grew up in the city. He studied art at the Parsons School of […]
John Tenniel (1820–1914) was a British artist and caricaturist who created the first illustrations for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll. John Tenniel was born in London into the family of a fencing instructor. His father intended him for a military career, but from an […]
In the illustrated editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, Viktor Shatunov brings his long experience in book graphics to one of the most beloved classics of children’s literature. Lewis Carroll’s original stories — first published in 1865 and 1871 respectively — are known for their playful […]
Viktor Shatunov (born 1952) is an artist and illustrator. He was born in Vilnius and graduated from the Vilnius Art School named after Venožinskis. In 1975 he completed his studies at the Belarusian Academy of Arts in Minsk, majoring in graphic art. He also interned at the Leningrad Academy of […]
Roberto Innocenti (born 1940) is an Italian illustrator widely known for his richly painted, highly detailed works and his commitment to a realistic style. His illustrations for Cinderella, The Adventures of Pinocchio, A Christmas Carol, and The Nutcracker have become iconic and are instantly recognizable to readers around the world. […]
Nancy Ekholm Burkert is an American artist and illustrator. The first book she illustrated was the classic fairy tale James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl in 1961. Her illustrations for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs brought her the New York Times Notable Book Award and the Caldecott […]