Illustrators' Sketchbooks

Explore the creative process with iconic and emerging illustrators through selections from their sketchbooks.

This inspiring collection is an ode to the power and possibilities of the sketchbook. It features the journal pages of sixty artists from around the world and across history, including nostalgic favorites like Jean de Brunhoff, Tove Jansson, and Beatrix Potter and contemporary icons like Beatrice Alemagna, Oliver Jeffers, and Shaun Tan.

Curator Martin Salisbury draws on decades of experience as an illustrator and educator to shed light on the lives and work of each artist. A treasury of rough sketches, note-filled margins, collaged pages, color explorations, and thumbnail drawings reveals the importance of the journal in the artmaking process. Some sketchbooks are works of art in themselves, while others showcase playful ideas and happy accidents. This beautifully designed anthology offers readers a glimpse into the rawimagination at the heart of stories and characters treasured across generations.

INTERNATIONAL ROSTER OF ARTISTS: This collection includes the sketchbooks of a diverse range of illustrators hailing from the United States, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, Japan, and South Korea. In addition to the engaging work of newer illustrators like Takako Aoki and Victoria Tentler-Krylov, the book features famous artists like Herge, Edward Gorey, and Tomi Ungerer and the sketches behind their iconic characters and stories.