The Tundra Illustrator Gift Guide is back! For the last five years, we’ve put together gift guides – inspired by Travis Jonker’s The Ultimate Children’s Literature Illustrator Gift Guide 2017 – featuring our current roster of illustrators. We have something for everyone from some of the best children’s book illustrators in the world – treat your family and friends (or yourself!) to a beautiful piece of art this holiday season.
Shop Anne’s Tragical Tea Party and Abigail’s artwork
Abigail Halpin is an illustrator living in southern Maine, a few miles from the sea. Her illustrations are a blend of traditional and digital media, and she has illustrated many beautiful children’s books including Finding Wild, Fort Building Time, Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin and the Anne Chapter Book series (Anne Arrives, Anne’s Kindred Spirits, Anne’s School Days).
Shop Professor Goose Debunks Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Alex’s artwork
Alex G. Griffiths is a children’s book illustrator originally from London, UK. The majority of his work is done by hand, using a combination of pen and ink line work and brush textures in a messy way to create an unusual illustration style. He now lives in Canada with his wife and two children.
Shop Narwhalicorn and Jelly and Ben’s artwork
Ben Clanton is an author and illustrator whose picture books include Mo’s Mustache; Rot, the Cutest in the World!; Boo Who?; It Came in the Mail; Something Extraordinary; Rex Wrecks It! and Vote for Me! He lives with his family in Seattle, Washington.
Shop The Puffin Keeper and Benji’s artwork
Benji Davies an award-winning illustrator and author. Creator of the bestselling, acclaimed The Storm Whale, Grandad’s Island and The Grotlyn, Benji’s books have been co-editioned in over thirty-five languages and countries, gaining recognition worldwide. Benji is also the illustrator of the internationally successful Bizzy Bear board book series, which has topped three million sales globally.
Shop Simon and Chester: Super Family! and Cale’s artwork
Cale Atkinson is an illustrator, writer and animator living lakeside with his family in Kelowna, British Columbia, whose books include Sir Simon: Super Scarer, Where Oliver Fits, Monsters 101, Unicorns 101, Simon and Chester: Super Detectives! and Simon and Chester: Super Sleepover!, to name a few. Cale is assisted in his artistic endeavors by Charlie, a wise and noble floof.
Shop My Lala and Charlene’s artwork
Charlene Chua grew up in Singapore and immigrated to Canada as an adult. She has illustrated almost twenty picture books, including Hug?, Going Up, Raindrops to Rainbow and Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with her husband and their two cats.
Shop Bibi’s Got Game and Chelsea’s artwork
Chelsea O’Byrne is an author, illustrator and art teacher based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She graduated in 2016 from Emily Carr University of Art + Design with a B.F.A. in Illustration. Since then, she has worked in editorial illustration and children’s books. Chelsea uses a combination of many different materials to make her illustrations, including gouache, watercolor, colored pencil, pastel, graphite, ink and markers. She is currently working on her fifth picture book.
Shop Midnight & Moon and Daniel’s artwork
Daniel Miyares is a critically acclaimed picture book author and illustrator. Some of his books include: Float, Night Out, That is My Dream, Bring Me A Rock!, and most recently Night Walk to the Sea. Daniel believes that our stories have the power to connect us all. Daniel’s story currently takes place in Lenexa, KS, with his wife, their two wonderful children, and a dog named Violet that gives them all a run for their money.
Shop The Language of Flowers and Night Lunch and Dena’s artwork
Dena Seiferling is a highly acclaimed picture book author and illustrator and needle-felt artist who graduated with a B.F.A. and Visual Communications Degree from the Alberta University of the Arts, where she now works as an instructor. She is the illustrator of King Mouse, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, and its companion book Bear Wants to Sing. The Language of Flowers marked her exquisite debut as both author and illustrator.
Shop In the Clouds and Elly’s artwork
Elly MacKay is an acclaimed paper artist and children’s book author and illustrator. She wrote and illustrated the picture book Red Sky at Night, as well as Waltz of the Snowflakes, If You Hold a Seed and Butterfly Park, among others. Elly’s art was also featured on the covers of Tundra’s reissues of L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon series. Her distinctive pieces are made using paper and ink, and then are set into a miniature theater and photographed, giving them their unique three-dimensional quality. She frequently collaborates with author Kallie George and their first picture book together is The Secret Fawn. Elly lives in Owen Sound, Ontario, with her two children.
Shop The Further Adventures of Miss Petitflour and Emma’s artwork
Emma Block is a multidisciplinary illustrator working across publishing, editorial illustration, licensing, packaging and branding. She wrote and illustrated the book Tea and Cake as well as two guides to painting, The Joy of Watercolor and Get Started with Gouache. She has illustrated many books, including Eat Love Play: Life Lessons From My Dog. Emma has worked with clients including HarperCollins, Hachette, Bloomsbury, Pinterest, Etsy, Harrods, Reuters, UNIQLO, Orla Kiely, Anthropologie, Polaroid, Airbnb and Trader Joe’s, among others.
Shop A Garden of Creatures and My Self, Your Self and Esmé’s artwork
Esmé Shapiro grew up in Laurel Canyon, California and Ontario, Canada, and is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her previous picture books include Ooko, which was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award in 2016, Alma and the Beast, the recipient of two starred reviews, among other honors, and Carol and the Pickle-Toad, which has been widely praised. Esmé also illustrated Yak and Dove by Kyo Maclear, Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton by Margaret McNamara and, most recently, A Garden of Creatures by Sheila Heti. She has exhibited at the Society of Illustrators, and her work has been featured in Taproot and Plansponsor magazines. Esmé lives in the Hudson Valley with her partner and their two dogs.
Shop Water, Water and Jon’s artwork
Jon McNaught raws comics, and works as an illustrator, printmaker and lecturer. His clients include Penguin Random House, Faber, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Walker Books, Picador and the BBC. He is also a regular cover artist for the London Review of Books. He is the author of Kingdom, Birchfield Close, Pebble Island and Dockwood, which was the winner of the Angoulême Prix Révélation award in 2012. He lives in London, UK.
Shop How to High Tea with a Hyena and Kathryn’s artwork
Kathryn Durst is a graduate of Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. She has a background in animation, having interned with Pixar Animation Studios. Kathryn has illustrated numerous children’s books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller from Paul McCartney, Hey Grandude!. When she is not illustrating books, she can be found playing the accordion, growing vegetables, folk dancing or putting on shadow puppet shows. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her grumpy mini dachshund named Chili Dog.
Shop The Family Tree and Lily’s artwork
Lily Snowden-Fine is an artist and illustrator with a focus on portraiture, children’s design and sculpture. She was the voice of the original Peppa Pig when it first aired in 2004, and she is the author and illustrator of Why Do Dogs Sniff Butts? and Why Do Cats Meow?. Lily is currently based in Vancouver, BC.
Shop We Adopted a Baby Chick and Lori’s artwork
Lori Joy Smith is an illustrator and fine artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries across Canada and the United States. Her illustrations have appeared on greeting cards and in Chirp, American Girl, Teen and Today’s Parent magazines, among other places. Lori has illustrated several picture books including Count Your Chickens by Jo Ellen Bogart, Run Salmon Run by Bobs & LoLo and My Canada by Katherine Dearlove. She has written and illustrated another picture book about Albert the sheep called We Adopted a Baby Lamb. Lori enjoys knitting, drawing and sewing. She lives with her family in Prince Edward Island, along with a growing menagerie of pets – three cats, two bunnies, one dog and two sheep.
Shop Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf and Marianna’s artwork
Marianna Balducci graduated in fashion studies and works as a freelance illustrator for communication projects and children’s books. Drawing is a state of life and her favorite way to explore the world. She usually mixes different techniques, especially illustration and photography. She loves surfing the web, catching great ideas and getting to know people and their stories. Marianna lives in Rimini, Italy, with 101 imaginary pigs.
Shop Star: The Bird Who Inspired Mozart and Matte’s artwork
Matte Stephens is a painter, illustrator and object maker. His work has been shown in galleries from New York to Seattle, and he has illustrated several children’s books including Mr. Flux by Kyo Maclear and Tigers and Tea with Toppy by Barbara Kerley and Rhoda Knight Kalt. Matte lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire, with his wife Vivienne and their pets Polly, Irving, Henry and Mr. Charlie.
Shop My Best Friend and Miguel’s artwork
Award-winning artist Miguel Tanco is a children’s book author and illustrator. He teaches illustration and organizes creative workshops for kids in Spain, where he was born and raised, and in Italy. He has published over forty children’s books including Count On Me; Great Dog; You and Me, Me and You; Les Farfelus; and The Story of Cyrano de Bergerac. He lives in Milan with his wife, Federica, and their two sons, Pablo and Javier.
Shop Kumo: The Bashful Cloud and Natalie’s artwork
Nathalie Dion is an acclaimed children’s book and editorial illustrator. She received a Governor General’s Award nomination for her work in Valérie Fontaine’s Le grand méchant loup dans ma maison, published in English as The Big Bad Wolf in My House. Nathalie’s beloved puffy white dog, along with the breathtaking cloud paintings of the modern era, inspired her to illustrate this book. She lives in Montreal, Quebec.
Shop Sharon, Lois & Bram’s One Elephant Went Out to Play and Qin’s artwork
Throughout her career, Qin Leng has illustrated picture books, magazines and book covers with publishers from around the world. Recent picture books include her author/illustrator debut I Am Small; Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen written by Deborah Hopkinson; and A Family Is a Family Is a Family written by Sara O’Leary. Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin, written by Chieri Uegaki, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, and received the APALA Award for best picture book. She lives in Toronto, with her husband and her son.
Shop Babble! And How Punctuation Saved it and Roman’s artwork
Roman Muradov is an award-winning editorial artist and graphic novelist who has created illustrations for The New Yorker, New York Times, Criterion, Vogue, Paris Review, Wired, the Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, GQ, Warby Parker, NPR, Monocle, Lucky Peach, Apple, Google, Airbnb, Lyft, Patreon and Dropbox, as well as the covers of the Penguin Classics Centennial Editions of James Joyce’s Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He has won multiple medals from the Society of Illustrators as well as the Young Guns Award from the Art Directors Club, and his work has been featured in The Comics Journal, American Illustration and Creative Quarterly, among others.
Shop How to Teach Your Cat a Trick and Zoe’s artwork
Zoe Si is a cartoonist and illustrator living in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. She has a lifelong passion for laughing at her own jokes and is always looking for new ways to tell stories with her art. Zoe holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of British Columbia and practiced law for a number of years. She now spends her days making children’s books, cartooning and writing for The New Yorker, freelance illustrating, and drawing comics of everything in sight. In her spare time, she enjoys climbing mountains and petting dogs, especially her own.