Maurice Sendak
Where the Wild Things Are. In the Night Kitchen. Outside Over There. Took children’s literature seriously as art and as psychology. The wild things are real things.
Picture Books
1840s → today
Maurice Sendak. Beatrix Potter. Eric Carle. Jerry Pinkney. Christian Robinson. The art form most people experienced first and dismissed too soon. Some of the most disciplined illustration anywhere.
Where this art lives
Picture books are art that you grew up inside of. The first paintings most children look at. The first stories you absorbed visually before you could read. The making of them is a serious craft, often overlooked because the audience is small.
The modern picture book started in the 1840s with Edward Lear and the Brothers Grimm illustrators. It exploded in the 20th century with Beatrix Potter, Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle, Roald Dahl + Quentin Blake, Dr. Seuss. Today the field is more diverse than ever — Christian Robinson, Brian Pinkney, Vashti Harrison, Yuyi Morales bringing fresh visual languages to bear.
Every picture book is a tiny show. Pacing through 32 pages. Each spread a composition. Each character holds across the whole arc. It is harder than it looks.
The artists
Named voices in this tradition.
Some historic, some living. All deserve attention beyond the footnote.
Beatrix Potter
Peter Rabbit. Also a serious mycologist, naturalist, and conservationist. Drew every animal from careful observation. The watercolors are masterpieces; the books are masterpieces.
Eric Carle
The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Created his signature look from hand-painted tissue papers cut into collage. 170 million books sold.
Jerry Pinkney
Master watercolorist. Illustrated 100+ books, many featuring Black children at a time when the field had almost none. Five Caldecott Honors. The 2010 Caldecott for The Lion and the Mouse.
Christian Robinson
Last Stop on Market Street. Last Stop won the 2016 Newbery + Caldecott Honor. Drew with crayons and ink. Bridges modernist composition with kid-friendly warmth.
Yuyi Morales
Dreamers. Just Ask. Brings Mexican folk-art tradition into contemporary picture books. Multiple Pura Belpré Awards. Her own life story (immigrant mother who taught herself English from picture books) is part of the work.
Materials & techniques
What this tradition uses.
🖌️
Watercolor + ink
The classic picture-book medium. Potter, Pinkney, many others. Loose, expressive, fast.
✂️
Collage
Eric Carle’s tissue papers. Ezra Jack Keats’ patterned-paper collages. Mixed media is the picture-book signature.
🖍️
Crayon + colored pencil
Christian Robinson. Lois Ehlert. Direct, warm, kid-readable mark.
📱
Digital
Modern picture books often blend digital final art with traditional underdrawing. Procreate is now used by major picture-book illustrators.
How to learn from this tradition
Read 50 picture books in one month. Actually read them, paying attention to: how does each spread compose? How does the artist handle the page-turn? When do they go close-up and when do they pull back?
The Society of Illustrators (NYC) keeps the Original Art exhibit each fall — every Caldecott-eligible book’s original art. Visit if possible. Free.
Want to make picture books? Start with a dummy book. Print 32 pages. Sketch out a complete story. The dummy is the prototype. Publishers want to see it before they’ll see polished art.