WIA2022 Longlist Highlights From The Professional Children’s Publishing Category – Sponsored by Walker Books

Dorien Brouwers : SAIL – A picture book about weathering the tides and storms of life’s challenges

Created in a moment of inspiration during the pandemic, this beautiful picture book was taken on by Hachette.

Inspired by the fact that so many kids were going through challenging times during the lockdowns, SAIL is about how much we can learn and grow from these (and other) challenges.

Illustrated in water colour and ink combined with printmaking techniques such as monoprint, and finished in Photoshop.

Dorien Brouwers is a Dutch Illustrator based in the UK.

Allan Drummond : Book 1. Roads to Clean Energy by Allan Drummond. Published by The Commonwealth.

Created as three 22 page picture books commissioned by The Commonwealth and aimed at children 7 to 12 years of age in 52 diverse countries, Allan was asked to show how children can play a part in inclusive and sustainable energy.

The books were launched at a COP 26 live event, and drew on Allan’s current practice as a non-fiction ‘reportage’ picture book artist.

Allan Drummond is an Illustrator and graphic designer based in Suffolk, UK.

Hayley Wells : The More Monster

Initially set out as a book that focused on environmental messages, it soon developed into a more complex critique of consumer culture, bringing in ideas of justice and fairness, too.

Hayley wanted this book to offer some hope and empowerment for young people, allowing them the space to imagine what a better world might look like.

The artwork was made mostly digitally, but it includes some hand-drawn ink textures, too.

Hayley Wells is an Illustrator based in Chelmsford, UK.

TK Kim : An illustrated book that explores different kinds of fears and ways to overcome them.

Kim wanted to give courage to young people who feels trapped by fears. So they created a fictional story of a timid girl who has never left her little cabin. The book talks about many different types of fears and especially a fear of losing loved ones and how to overcome them.

Starting with hand drawn sketches and rough layouts, Kim added line and colour to the illustration digitally using Adobe Photoshop.

TK Kim is an illustrator based in Seoul, South Korea.

Yasmeen Ismail : Poetry illustrations for Take Off Your Brave by Nadim (aged 4)

Yasmeen was commissioned by Walker to illustrate this book of poetry by a very young author. Nadim was only 4 years old and she wanted to make sure that his debut was treated with respect and sensitivity. 

Working with watercolours, pencil, Conté, ink, pastels and Photoshop, Yasmeen worked hard to reflect the playfulness & joy of his poetry.

Yasmeen Ismail is an Irish-born, Bristol-based award-winning author, illustrator and animator.

Libby VanderPloeg : British Museum: A History of the World in 25 Cities

This colourful collection of cartography was  a non-fiction picture book of extraordinary city maps, telling the story of human civilisation throughout history.

The artwork was drawn in Adobe Illustrator and researched using a mixture of Google maps, archeological site plans from the British Museum, and a mix of artefact photos and historical info for reference.

Libby VanderPloeg is an artist and illustrator living in West Michigan, USA.