Illustrator Research: Axel Scheffler

• I have selected Axel Scheffler to research because i am intrigued by the idea of the successful illustrator/author partnership. I also really admire his style, characterisation and (from reading lots of online interviews) his enthusiasm and attachment to his illustrations. 
• I would describe Scheffler's style as the use of bold lines, bright colours and slightly anthropomorphised animals. His images are playful and his effective partnership with Julia Donaldson shows in his interpretation of her rhyming text. 
• On viewing Scheffler's work, i would certainly say that it sits within the children's publishing genre with an intended audience of young children (2-6?) but keeping in mind, like with many contemporary picturebooks, his illustrations appeal to many different people on different levels. 
• Some of Scheffler's best clients have been Macmillan and Faber & Faber. In an online interview, Scheffler suggested that many publishers do not tend to stick to the same author/illustrators to help them progress through the industry but Scheffler's work for these two publishers in particular has been pretty prolific. 
• If i could chose a project from Scheffler's portfolio to work on...I couldn't chose! Any of his books working with Julia Donaldson would be fine by me! I am a great admirer of her writing for children, i think the stories and characters she creates just with her words are fantastic and aimed just at the right level. I think that half of the battle in creating successful picturebooks is finding the right words.
• Axel Scheffler has taken on commissioned/commercial work before. Earlier on in his career, Scheffler was commissioned by Faber & Faber to create new illustrations for Old Possom's Book of Practical Cats.
• It is somewhat difficult to reflect on Scheffler's self-promoted work and avenues of promoting his work. From what I can see, he is not on many social media sites and does not have a personal webiste, only some that relate directly to one piece of work or series (e.g worldofpipandposy.com and gruffalo.com) and offer only a small written piece about the illustrator himself. 
• I can see no evidence of Axel Scheffler taking on other work to supplement his income. This is most likely due to the fact that his illustrations are ever popular, his collaboration with Julia Donaldson (and others) is so strong and successful that he has no need for other work. How awesome!
• Although Scheffler has written some of his own work to accompany his illustrations, he is perhaps better known for illustrating the literary works of other children's authors. This is the sort of thing that will inform my statement of intent as i have always been worried that, although i really want to make picturebooks, I do not know much about writing them. I will look again at the projects and competetions, seeing where I can perhaps use an existing text to work with.