"For Addis I moved away from the digital colour technique, just because a more delicate approach seemed appropriate (I still ran the drawings through a computer to correct them before painting over inkjet printouts on watercolour paper). It is fairly obvious that the book deals with some of my feelings while coming to grips with living in London, though the daughter of a friend described it as 'the book about snow'." Photograph: Joel Stewart
"The illustrations for Malachy's book were the result of at least four sketchbooks, inches thick with experiments stapled in. Finally I came up with the characters and a technique that mixed ink drawings on oil or alcohol soaked paper with colours and textures from an old photocopier. While I combined these elements on the computer, the idea came from looking at traditional lithography and aquatint techniques and at the way comic strips were printed in the 20s and 30s." Photograph: Joel Stewart
"The technique I used for Tasha Pym's book is a subtle variation on the digital one I've used previously (and since), but this time I drew the pictures with a brush and sepia ink. Paper soaked in thinners is the key to the softness of the line." Photograph: Joel Stewart
"Dexter is probably my favourite thing that I've done. Mainly because children seem to really appreciate it, including the bits that some thought might be over their heads. I also like it because the force of the telling and the humour somehow renders my own criticism of the drawings irrelevant. It was the second picture book that I wrote myself." Photograph: Joel Stewart
