Ever since he arrived from deepest, darkest Peru with a label asking “Please look after this bear”, Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear has been beloved by children everywhere. He’s gone on to take both small and silver screens by storm – but it was Peggy Fortnum’s pen-and-ink drawings that first conjured him into life in 1958.

Fortnum’s lively, loose drawings perfectly complemented Paddington’s charm, innocence and endearing clumsiness. “I always saw Paddington as a real being,” she said, “I don’t like whimsy or sentiment. This bear had character.”

Fortnum never begrudged being so inextricably linked with just one of her 80-plus projects, faithfully illustrating her replies to fan mail with little sketches of Paddington Bear, clutching his hat while dashing off for the next adventure.

^{Original Peggy Fortnum PADDINGTON BEAR™ © Paddington and Company Ltd 201* From the Paddington Bear books by Michael Bond Illustrated by Peggy Fortnum Paddington Bear™, Paddington™ and PB™ are trademarks of Paddington and Company Limited}

It’s been translated into 30 languages, performed at the Royal Opera House and, by some estimates, sold a copy a minute since it was published. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is an astonishing success story, but it’s also one of over 75 books by author and illustrator Eric Carle. His personal favourite is 1971’s Do You Want To Be My Friend?

Initially bemused by his greedy caterpillar’s popularity, Carle told the Guardian in 2004 that he understood it conveyed a message of hope. “It says, you’ll grow up and you’ll be alright – and not just alright, you’ll be beautiful".

^{The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Copyright ©1969 and 1987 by Eric Carle. All rights reserved. Used with Permission from the Eric Carle Studio.}

According to his biography, we have a cuddly purple cow to thank for the award-winning career of German illustrator Axel Scheffler. Although he always liked art, he wasn’t sure he was good enough to pursue it professionally – until he won the toy for coming first in a drawing competition.

In the years since, Scheffler has written his own Pip and Posy series and collaborated with writer Julia Donaldson on The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale and many more. During the Brexit referendum campaign, Scheffler made a passionate argument for Remain, even recasting his Gruffalo as a mythical “Brusselo” bogeyman for a Guardian cartoon.

^{Image from The Gruffalo © Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler 1999. By kind permission of Macmillan Children’s Books}

The Ladybird books What to Look for in Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer, currently exhibited in Second Nature: The Art of Charles Tunnicliffe RA, introduced generations of children to the wonders of the natural world. A devoted naturalist himself, Tunnicliffe was the perfect guide on this quest – his drawings reflect an enduring fascination with wildlife.

Intricately detailed and full of life, Tunnicliffe’s illustrations developed over hours of observation, supplemented by the measured drawings he made of specimens he spotted on his walks. From his home on Anglesey, Tunnicliffe closely studied the diverse birds of the island, finding himself so delighted by watching peregrines in flight when he first moved there that he “could hardly eat sandwiches”.

^{Charles Tunnicliffe RA, Wild rose, briar rose and elderflower on a stone wall (from What to Look for in Summer, detail) 1960. www.vintageladybird.com © Ladybird Books Ltd, 1960. Reproduced by kind permission of Ladybird Books Ltd}

As Jacqueline Wilson tells it, Nick Sharratt has his bright canary-yellow socks to thank for their long and fruitful creative partnership. The author was initially concerned that Sharratt was too serious to bring her wacky Tracy Beaker to life, but changed her mind after catching sight of his flamboyant footwear.

Born in London in 1962, Nick Sharratt credits inspirations as diverse as L.S. Lowry, Pop Art, Janet and Allan Ahlberg and Abba for shaping his distinctive style.

He’s illustrated almost 250 books and written around 40 of his own, but still says his proudest achievement was receiving a gold Blue Peter badge in 2009.

^{Artwork Nick Sharratt, from The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson. Published by Yearling. Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Limited © 1992}

Born in 1845, Walter Crane is credited with helping to establish children’s book illustration as an outlet for serious artistic talent. From the 1860s onwards, he illustrated a series of what were then known as “toybooks”– full-colour books for children, telling stories such as Aesop’s Fables, Beauty and the Beast and many of Grimms’s fairytales.

His style was popular enough to inspire imitation, prompting Crane to begin producing and selling his own wallpaper and textile designs. Alongside artist William Morris and writer John Ruskin, Crane was a leading figure in the British Arts and Crafts movement, founded to champion craftsmanship and traditional skills in the face of industrialisation.

He argued passionately that the decorative arts were not inferior to painting or sculpture, stating that those forms could not exist “where there is no beauty in everyday things.”

^{Jack escaping with the golden harp, illustrated by Walter Crane. Printed by Edmund Evans. Published by George Routledge and Sons. Photo: R.A. © Royal Academy of Arts, London.}