Brian Wildsmith

Brian Wildsmith was raised in a small mining village in Yorkshire, England, where, he says, “Everything was grey. There wasn’t any colour. It was all up to my imagination. I had to draw in my head…”

Wildsmith is an illustrator who made his name in a rainbow explosion back in the early Sixties with the simplest of children's books, an illustrated ABC, that set a brightly coloured flame burning throughout the publishing world. Even now, the prolific artist turned author, who has written 82 books, thinks that first one was his best. "It was the time of Carnaby Street and The Beatles. There was a new era of creativity in England, and that book was the beginning for a creative expanse of children's books.”

His books, which have sold more than 20 million copies around the world, have something of a didactic theme. Many have a moralistic tone – like the one about the owl and woodpecker who initially hate each other but end up getting along. Or they teach children about concepts such as collective nouns: Animal Gallery includes such delights as a leap of leopards, a party of rainbow fish and a crash of rhinoceroses. But what they don't do is risk boring a child with too many words. The pictures are key. Wildsmith believes that beautiful picture books are vitally important in subconsciously forming a child’s visual appreciation, which will bear fruit in later life – and that children really do appreciate details as well as colour.

The techniques Wildsmith uses to create his illustrations is vast - paint layered upon paint, splattered paint, crayon layered over paint, collaged paper. These techniques create the most incredible bold and intense backgrounds for his illustrations. All the animals are in gorgeous detail, with defined brushstrokes for hairs and whiskers, and their facial expressions seem to give them little personalities of their own. Each illustration is so complex, and with individual brushstrokes and different mark-making evident in the images, they draw you in and make you want to look closer.

I love the tiny details in the images, such as the interaction between the different species of animals, and also the easy-to-miss details on certain pages. This displays the amount of thought obviously put into the composition of each page.

The stories that these images accompany are sweet, although slightly retro in style. I am especially fond of the fact that the stories often see every type of animals - different sizes and shapes and colours - all working together, and living in harmony amongst each other. Although this may not be true to life, it's lovely to see - a raccoon causally chatting with a mouse, or frogs and butterflies frolicking together happily - such situations are sure to spark a child's imagination. The intense colour and vividness of the illustrations are sure to appeal to children, and the gorgeous animal illustrations are perfect for introducing children to different animals they may have yet to encounter.