Where the magic happens: children's illustrators open up their studios - in pictures

Photographer Jake Green has spent the last year travelling around the world delving into the magical world behind the scenes in illustrators’ studios. Here he shares some the beautiful photographs he made of bookmakers in action including Oliver Jeffers, Laura Carlin, Beatrice Alemagna and Hervé Tullet

  • You can see Jake Green’s The Bookmaker’s Studio exhibition at the House of Illustration in London until 1 November 2015

Jake Green

  • Our first stop is with Oliver Jeffers in Brooklyn, New York. As soon as I walked into his beautiful pirate ship of a studio I knew I had made the right decision to come all the way to the US to photograph him!
    Oliver Jeffers

  • Here you can see Oliver Jeffers at work, and some nice artwork on his arms too! Oliver’s multi-award winning children’s books include How to Catch a Star and Lost and Found. (Also see his drawing lesson how to draw a penguin).
    Oliver Jeffers

  • French illustrator Beatrice Alemagna’s studio was very Parisian, very quaint; a shrine to her textured and intensely emotional illustrations.
    Beatrice Alemagna

  • Seeing Beatrice working was really eye-opening as she changed from one medium to another in quick succession: pencils, pastels, chalk, rubbers, then cutting up magazines…
    Beatrice Alemagna

  • Welcome to Benji Davies’ studio in London. Benji has just been crowned winner of The Association of Illustration children’s illustrator of the year with Grandad’s Island. He has such great selection of children’s books and it was hard to leave without trying to buy a couple from him. Benji has them all presented on shelves, like a little boutique bookshop. Also see this drawing lesson from Benji here!
    Benji Davies,

  • Meet Kitty Crowther, photographed at her studio in Brussels, Belgium. Kitty wanted to show me her two new books but I can’t speak Swedish and the copies she had were only in Swedish, so she sat me down and read them to me in English. It was amazing! She has a wonderful way of reading.
    Kitty Crowther

  • Some of Kitty Crowther’s delicious art work. Her most famous books in the UK are the probably the Poka and Mia series and she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2010.
    Kitty Crowther's work

  • Laura Carlin, at work in London. When Laura starts to draw you can see she is gone, completely lost in her own world. Laura is also one of the British illustrators representing the UK in the Bratislava awards this year.
    Laura Carlin

  • I photographed Hervé Tullet at his studio in Paris (although he has since moved to New York). The photo shoot with Hervé was supposed to take one hour, but an hour and a half in, we were still sitting in his front room drinking coffee being schooled in the facts of life. Hervé is probably most famous for his bestselling, mind enhancing book for toddlers and beyond Press Here.
    Hervé Tullet

  • Hervé Tullet in action: “Are you ready, is it ok I can start?” said Hervé to me and my assistant. Then he blasted Ebo Taylor on the stereo and started playing with paint. Wonderful!
    Hervé Tullet

  • Here’s Luke Pearson drawing in Nottingham. I knew Luke did the wonderful Hildafolk series, but I didn’t realise that he also did Adventure Time storyboards until we we’re in his house. I literally fanned out, it was almost too much for me to handle. Luke does his drawing in the back room of his house. It’s a simple, humble space for someone so talented.
    Luke Pearson

  • Katja Spitzer in Berlin. Katja has an amazing visual language and her selection of colours is key to that. Katja told me about the terrifying books she used to read growing up – it was all The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and children suffering – so much more risky than modern children’s books!
    Katja Spitzer

  • Here’s Katja drawing a beautiful bird with her pencils of choice: Faber-Castell Polychromos. Katja’s latest book is Let’s Go Outside.
    Katja Spitzer

  • Maggie Li (author and illustrator of Bug Detective) in her studio in London. Maggie has this great obsession with poo; she even has a big golden poo on her desk!
    Maggie Li

  • Jürg Lindenberger in Switzerland. We turned up at Jürg’s shared studio space in Basel and it was empty, nothing but Jürg… we were nervous and he was nervous… it was all very awkward. He had only just moved in and couldn’t believe we had flown from London just to take pictures of him working.
    Jürg Lindenberger

  • It turned out that all Jürg did was doodle in a small notebook with a biro… it’s wonderfully playful and childish. I loved how simple and accessible it was, even though we’d come all the way from London!
    Jürg Lindenberger

  • You can catch Jake Green’s The Bookmaker’s Studio exhibition at the House of Illustration: 2 Granary Square, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4BH, until 1 November 2015.
    The Bookmaker's Studio
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