Timelessness is surely one of the most sought-after characteristics that any artist, writer or musician can aim for in their work. It’s a wonderful feeling to know that what felt good a generation ago still holds true to this day; perhaps even better to know that what made one tick as a child still draws a smile years down the line. I often feel this with certain children’s illustration — they evoke an innolinecence every adult still retains somewhere deep inside. The work of UK illustrator Jenni Desmond does just this to me — there’s a real sense of adventure running through it and vision of the world being far, far larger than it really is.

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Presented as a tableau of vignettes, the work of UK illustrator Jody Barton is executed in a variety of techniques and mediums, yet manages to run the gamut from delicately bold watercolors, to thoroughly noir black and white ink drawings, to child-like, and endearing, colored pencil scribbles.

Rosemary Squire is a UK-based illustrator who creates three dimensional illustrations. Her models are created using polymer clay, wire, found objects, and cloth, which are then digitally photographed for illustration. Her work is influenced significantly by her close observation of people and their quirks. Squire has featured in The AOI Images annual (2008, 2009) and was awarded The AOI Art Critic Award 2008.

There’s a wonderful cheekiness and sense of visual mischievousness about the illustration work of UK-based Jonathan Burton, who counts Time magazine and Saatchi & Saatchi amongst a slew of high profile clients.

London illustrator Simon Brader’s work is innovative and full of topical innuendo. I love his colour choices in particular, the soft watery washes blending energetically with the more stubborn, edgy textures.

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UK illustrator Izzie Klingels creates the loveliest, delicate black and white stippled drawings that she seems to find a myriad of endless applications for. Most interestingly, Klingels appears to do quite a large amount of work within the fashion industry, something of a minor coup for an illustrator in this day and age.

UK illustrator Ken Goodall makes lovely multimedia paintings. I really enjoy the built up layers and thought that clearly goes into deciding how and what to utilize in the execution of each and every element, and the whimsical feeling that results.

I just can’t get enough of British illustrator Stuart Kolakovic’s quilt-like, narrrative compositions, which abound with folksy Eastern European themes, figures and type.

Bath based Lucy Oldfield has just moved onto a Canal boat — a risky move for an illustrator whose art is based on delicate linework. Luckily it hasn’t affected her steady hand. Her work is beautifully constructed with a fine eye for feminine detailing. She’s currently working on greeting cards, having previously worked for the design company I Love Dust, with clients including Orange, Mini Cooper, Conde Nast, The Times and The Sunday Express.

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Stephen Ledwidge is an illustrator based in the UK. In that he is a primarily figurative illustrator who actually models and renders his figures in paint, he seems to be somewhat of a wonderful anomaly. Ledwidge’s paintings are full of the most perfectly awkward figures (think folk art meets Balthus). The depth of his rich skin tones draw you in immediately. He combines these figures with beautiful painterly, graphic solutions.

Tim Lee’s illustrations are wonderfully intricate and precise, a tangled world of escapism and realism mixed into one. ‘My work carries a heavy eastern influence. I think this is probably due to my Chinese heritage. Composition, rhythm and balance are the elements that I focus on. I like images that portray a sense of beauty and sadness and that work on a poetic level’.

There’s some bold design work on the rather flashy website of UK illustrator Neil Duerden.