Week 16 - Ben Mantle

Week 16 finds us in Brighton at the home of illustrator extraordinaire, Ben Mantle.

Ben is an illustrator/animator who works mostly on Children's books.

He was born in Leamington Spa in 1980, and developed a very early interest in things artistic, designing programme covers for school productions and even coming first in his local library colouring-in competition. From there he went on to study animation at Surrey Institute of Art & Design, graduating in 2003.. He then gained valuable experience working on Tim Burton's “Corpse Bride” before moving to Brighton to work as 'Head of Animation' in a media company, focusing on Character and Background design.

He was also part of the Animation team creating the BAFTA winning 'Big and Small' CBeebies website. Since 2008, Ben has been working as a Children's Book Illustrator from his shared studio in Brighton and he also produces screen prints and digital artwork to exhibit.

If you'd like to know what Ben gets up to on a daily basis you can follow him on twitter and have a gander at his portfolio right here. And so we leave Brighton and head on to Henley on Thames to join the guinea pig drawing supreme, Holly Surplice. Until then...

Week 9 - Matt Robertson

The book has made its way to Norwich where it will be living for the next two weeks as Matt Robertson and Gemma Correll are practically neighbours! So for the first time the book was hand delivered instead of being posted (anything to reduce its carbon footprint!). So a little about week 9 and its fab artist, Matt Robertson...

Matt has always loved drawing, and following in the footsteps of his father and older brother he studied art at college. He went on to study Illustration at The Cambridge School of Art and it was during this time that his interest in picture books really began.

In 2011 Matt returned to The Cambridge School of Art and is currently in the second year of his M.A. in Children's Book Illustration. Represented by Advocate Art, illustration agency, Matt's past clients include The Sunday Telegraph, Random House and Harper Collins. His first book is due to be published in 2013.

Matt is a devoted bread maker and impatient gardener. He lives in the fine city of Norwich with his wife.

You can follow Matt on twitter and check out his fab work on his blog. And so the book stays in Norwich and gets passed on to the legendary pug lover, Gemma Correll. Until week 10...

Week 7 - Sam Usher

Hello! It's Week 7 and talented Sam Usher has just completed his week with the book. His mountains of roughs and colour tests are below and they all look fantastic. You'll notice he has a soft spot for toucans and birds, which he draws and paints to perfection. More of these can be found hiding on his twitter updates and on his website.

Sam spent most of his childhood reading, drawing and forgetting to do school work. He enjoys attending Literary festivals and school visits, especially when there's the chance to make a mess and annoy parents! His debut picture book Can You See Sassoon? was published in 2011, longlisted for the Greenaway Medal and shortlisted for the 'Read it Again!' award.

Sam currently lives in London and his spare time is spent cycling to museums and trespassing (but its all for the love of illustration!).

So the end of another week. Check out Sam's website and follow his trespassing antics on twitter. Now over to Christine Pym...