Five Australian Illustrators

I've been thinking about illustrators of children's books. I blame my work. One of the perks of my job at the National Library of Australia is that I have an opportunity to meet and listen to the greats of Australian writing, publishing and research. Recently, it was illustrator Robert Ingpen AM who, in 1986, received the Hans Christian Anderson Award for Illustration for his 'lasting contribution to children's literature'.

Over the past decade, Robert's work has focused on creating new illustrations for a collection of Children's Classics, published by Palazzo Editions. He has created new images for Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, The Wind in the Willows, A Christmas Carol, The Jungle Book, and The Secret Garden. The National Library has published a new book, Wonderlands: The Illustration Art of Robert Ingpen, which celebrates this work. During the conversation, though, Robert was asked why new illustrations were needed. Surely, the questioner asked, if new words weren't needed, the original images would be fine too?

It's Robert's reply that has kept me thinking. In a world full of colour, where children live on screens, the old line drawings of earlier days don't cut the mustard (I'm paraphrasing). And perhaps more importantly, he described his job as finding spaces in his illustrations for children's imaginations to occupy. Isn't that perfect? He isn't looking to supply the imaginative world of the book so much as to inspire the imaginative worlds of young readers.

This idea of illustrators creating doorways into the imagination has kept me thinking. I've been thinking about the illustrators whose work I love to look at and whose work I love reading aloud. So I thought I'd share with you five books b y Australian illustrators who have inspired reading and imagination in my house.

Jeannie Baker

Jeannie Baker's Belonging, published in 2004, is a book without words. It tells the story of an inner city suburb, transformed by it's community from an industrial wasteland into a vibrant environment. And it tells the story of a little girl who grows into adulthood in this urban space. Lacking words, the readers are free to follow whatever storytelling path they choose. Sometimes we followed the girl's story. Others, we looked at the changes happening outside the window that frames each illustration. And the illustrations are something to behold, each an elaborate, detailed collage. They provide another way to engage with the book, working out what materials were used to create the hammock, the pond or the paving stones.

Graeme Base

Another illustrator who creates wonderfully intricate images is Graeme Base. This image is from his counting book, The Waterhole (published 2001). More than a counting book, The Waterhole is a book about animals, environment and climate. Like Belonging, there is more going on here than the words on the page suggest. Graeme Base's books are like that. As an author-illustrator, he has created puzzle books that have defied my puzzle-solving abilities. But even when I can't solve the puzzle, I love the illustrations. My photograph doesn't do justice to his work but it gives you a hint of Graeme's sense of humour. Can you spot the anthropomorphised frogs in a work that is otherwise highly accurate? Those frogs travel around the world with you. Maybe they are you?

Freya Blackwood

Here's a fun fact - Freya Blackwood worked on special effects for The Lord of the Rings trilogy! Her illustrations are a long way, though, from the world of the Hobbits. They are gorgeous evocations of childhood, sometimes in what looks like watercolours, sometimes pastels. Freya Blackwood has created the images for some of our best writers of children's books, including Margaret Wild and Jan Ormerod, but she seems to have formed a beautiful partnership with Libby Gleeson. This illustration is from Amy and Louis (published in 2006), a beautiful story about friendship and losing a friend. It tackles a very common experience - what happens when your best friend moves away - but I think it is also a perfect book for starting to talk to a small person about death. Freya has also illustrated Libby's Clancy and Millie and the Very Fine House, which will make you want to build a box city.

Nick Bland

How I love Nick Bland's The Wrong Book (2009). I love Nicholas Ickle who desperately wants to tell us a story but whose storytelling is constantly interrupted by a parade of characters that young readers may recognise from other books. There's a dinosaur, a queen, a marionette puppet who looks remarkably like Pinocchio, and rats ... lots of rats. Bland is an author/illustrator who lives in Darwin but his books don't (yet) reflect that part of the world. He's perhaps most loved for The Very Cranky Bear, a character who seems to have taken on a life of his own and who now appears in a number of Bland's books. But Nicholas Ickle is my favourite. Who can resist that little face, his frustration, his dejection? It's a wonderful book to read aloud - especially as young listeners will try to beat you to the punchline.

Judy Horacek

If I'd been planning my blogs, I might have only talked about illustrators whose last names began with 'B', saving the letter 'H' for a later post. But I chose on the basis of love and Judy Horacek's classic, with text by Mem Fox, is dear to my heart. Where is the Green Sheep? was published in the same year my boy was born and we began reading it almost immediately. The story goes that Mem was inspired by Judy's drawing of a sheep. Until that time, Judy was known as a cartoonist. Where is the Green Sheep? has lead to a new career in children's books, as an author and as an illustrator, and as a collaborator with Mem Fox. This is my favourite image from Where is the Green Sheep? It reminds me of Singin' in the Rain, a movie that is also very dear to me. And that's the beauty of this book: as carefully chosen as the words are, Judy's illustrations give you so much to explore and share with your little one. There's a reason why it is much-loved and in print 12 years after publication.