This week as we are waiting to get feedback on our book concept and roughs, I talked a little bit about illustration and what I do and did a little demonstration – with difficulty on a tiny laptop. I think sometimes when reading picture books to children we race along through the words and perhaps don’t spend enough time looking at the pictures. So hopefully just explaining a bit about the artwork and all the thought that goes into the drawings, book design and typography will spark some interest in the arty side of things. A lot of the time in the sessions I refer to old books as well as new ones, I think it’s really interesting to look back at the development of picture books, but I think that maybe the parents don’t agree with my taste in books. Today I was asked if I could put a list together of some of the books I’ve been talking about. So here is a list of a few on my nearest bookshelf at the moment, some old, some new… some favourite picture books. Maybe I’ve inspired a new picture book collector after all. The ox illustration is a snippet of work in progress.