Neal Layton’s trademark scribbly line combines with collage, crayon and computer generated images to produce illustrations that create a distinctive world in a way that is both boldly witty and confidently dramatic. Here he explains the techniques and thinking behind two illustrations from his latest picture book, Emily Brown and the THING.

The winner of the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Gold Award for Mouse Noses on Toast , illustrator David Roberts used a combination of techniques to create the artwork for Julia Donaldson’s Tyrannosaurus Drip . Here David Roberts explains the thinking and techniques behind his illustration.

The setting to Mairi Hedderwick’s Katie Morag stories, the fictional Isle of Struay, is as central to the stories as Katie Morag McColl herself. Based on the Isle of Coll, Hedderwick’s home for many years, the land and seascapes of Struay with their changing moods and light are both backdrop to and part of the stories. Here Mairi Hedderwick explains the thinking and techniques behind her illustration.

Winner of the Unesco award for his picture book Something Else and twice winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal (for Pirate Diary and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver ) Chris Riddell is also a political cartoonist for the Observer , the Literary Review and the New Statesman . His work is characterised by its distinctive line, clever caricature and fantastical imagination. Here he explains the techniques and thinking behind two illustrations from his latest picture book, The Emperor of Absurdia .

Chris Wormell broke new ground at the beginning of the '90s with his exquisitely stylish An Alphabet of Animals which won the Bologna graphics prize. Here he explains the techniques and thinking behind two illustrations from his picture book George and the Dragon .

Babette Cole’s wittily dynamic picture books with their anarchic energy and often ‘unmentionable’ subject matter have been influential in broadening the appeal of the picture book. Here she explains the techniques and thinking behind two illustrations, one from Drop Dead and one from The Bad Good Manners Book.

Lauren Child’s funny, unruly picture books with their dramatically zany illustration have transformed expectations about the kind of artwork that young readers enjoy. Here she explains the techniques and thinking behind one of her best loved picture books, Clarice Bean, That’s Me.

Korky Paul’s anarchic style with its scribbly line and wild characterisation is unmistakeable. Here he explains the thinking behind his recent picture book, Captain Teachum’s Buried Treasure.

Jez Alborough’s Fix-It Duck is his second picture book about the antics of Duck and his friends, Goat and Sheep. Alborough’s focus on the dramatic tension within his Duck stories means that he plays creatively with tones, line, frames, perspectives and action sequences – drawing the reader into the pictures. Here he explains the techniques and thinking behind the climactic caravan crash spread.

Jane Hissey’s nursery world is depicted from a ‘toy-level’ viewpoint in sumptuously glowing colours with delicate gradations of line and texture to suggest atmosphere. Here she explains the techniques and thinking behind her recent picture book, Old Bear’s All-Together Painting.