The dog with eyes as big as teacups steals away the sleeping princess for the amusement of the soldier in The Tinderbox. To finish his images, Joel uses a computer to manipulate the tones and textures, creating subtle watercolour effects.
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
In the Wild Swans, Elisa is cast into the dungeon, accused of being a witch by a spiteful Arch-Bishop. The dull colours surrounding Elisa have a touching, down-to-earth gravity and allow a sense of hope to be captured in her eyes.
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
This quietly contemplative monoprint shows the mermaid emerging from the waves for the first time. The horizontal lines of the ocean are interwoven with the downward sweep of her hair - the image has the grace and formality of an old engraving, emphasising the elemental bond between the Little Mermaid and the sea.
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
The Little Mermaid lies naked on the palace steps, as if at the bottom of the sea; here, away from the familiar embrace of the water, she's laid out on the cold stone whose marbled surface mockingly imitates a lapping ocean. And where she once had the protective armour of a scaly tail, her newly acquired legs look pale and weak.
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
In this scene from The Snow Queen, Kay gazes through an ice block clutched in fingers that are white with cold. It's a haunting image that reflects the spirit rather than the letter of Naomi Lewis's translation, which describes him as "blue... nearly black" with cold.
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
A large snowflake settles on Kay’s window box and grows into the shape of a lady dressed in millions of tiny star-like snowflakes. She is the Snow Queen. The gentle use of pink and green create a magical luminosity to add to the ghoulish gloom of the white, black and blue.
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
In this collaboration with Viviane Schwarz, the Nose searches for a place to fit in and stick out, and gets himself lost in the city. Can you see the smiling face that is hidden in the traffic lights and curb?
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
The engagingly eccentric Nose performs a sneezing dance for the pigeons in the Pigeon Theatre. The drooping curtains serve as eyes. By using the scenery in this ingenious way, Stewart enables us to see the Nose’s expression, even though he doesn't have a face.
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
"Why illustrate something that the author has already drawn in words? You mustn't be too literal," says Stewart. The quaint lettering and eccentric characters capture the whimsy of Lewis Carroll's nonsense poem, in a setting of trees patterned like old Victorian curtains.
Illustration: Walker Books Photograph: Action images
