Lisbeth Zwerger

I discovered Lisbeth Zwerger some years ago and have been slowly collecting her picture books ever since. As an illustrator, she has it all.   She has an amazing sense of color and composition. Even when her illustration is in grayscale (see cow and house illustration - from Wizard of Oz - below) she knows how to use tones to maximum effect. And she has a very whimsical take on stories and fairy tales that you might think could inspire nothing new in terms of imagery.

I've used her illustrations to choose color palettes for blogs. There are a number of sites, like color hunter, where you can upload an image and it will generate a set of compatible colors. It doesn't always come up with the set I ultimately use, but it's a good starting place.

My favorite Zwerger is the Mad Hatter's Tea Party (middle right) but only because I identify with the Mad Hatter. I've bought quite a few prints (by picture book illustrators) through Every Picture Tells A Story, and you can find Zwerger there too.