This giant, glossy catalogue of illustrations compiled by Walton, the publisher of art-books house Duncan Baird, includes hundreds of graphic artists showcasing hundreds of their pictures-of people, animals, food, architecture and abstractions-from their public campaigns and personal collections. Businesses looking for new advertising motifs, magazine art directors seeking illustrators, book publishers seeking cover designs and graphic arts students seeking inspiration can all thumb through these full-color pages for inspiration, not mention contact information for the artists themselves. Some of the work will be known to most readers-Marcos Chin’s drawings for the Lava Life dating service were plastered throughout New York City subways; Gary Baseman’s quirky work is all over the place, including the LA Times, the New Yorker, Rolling Stone and other publications, and he’s the creator of the animated TV show Teacher’s Pet-and the rest of it will look vaguely familiar, with its poppy exuberance and bright, millennial palette.

How do your find an illustrator to create a piece of work?At present, there are a number of methods: looking through myriad agents' promotional books; browsing annual competition collections; trying to find that pile of unsolicited illustrators' cards you just had on your desk the other day; searching the web -- for a few hours!; or asking a colleague. All of these methods can work, but they're all time-consuming and haphazard.

What if you need someone to draw some salad on a plate with a glass of wine next to it? You could go through the above processes, and -- after a while -- you'd probably find someone to draw or paint it in the style you wanted. Or you could pick up The Big Book of Illustration Ideas. Flip to the section marked "Food and Still Life" and find pages and pages of illustrators who can draw all manner of food in all manner of styles: pencil, crayon, watercolor, collage, and so on, and so on. A smorgasbord of illustration ideas! In fact, within these pages, you'll find the best illustrators, from all over the world, found together in one place along with all of their contact details.

For ease of reference, illustrators' work is cataloged by theme: People; Portraits; Food and Still Life; Buildings; Landscapes; Abstract Concepts; Diagrams; and Miscellaneous. Each section shows hundreds of examples to allow a quick and accurate list of illustrators suited to your needs.

Independently edited and collated, The Big Book of Illustrated Ideas does not favor any agency, country, or style. It is simple the most accessible collection of the best illustrators' work available anywhere.

Illustrators featured include: Aaron Leighton · Adrian D'Alimonte · Alan Dingman · Alanna Cavanagh · Juliette Borda · Andrew Bylo · Anja Kroencke · Bonnie Dain · Campbell Laird · Olaf Hajek · Claudia Pearson · Dane LaChiusa · David Cooper · David Navascues · Fred Péault · Gordon Studer · Greg Morgan · Greg White · Heather Chontos · Izak Zenou · James Yang · Jason Tharp · Jenny Kostecki · Jenny Laden · Jo Jo Ensslin · John Coulter · Jon Cannell · Jonathan Weiner · Karen L. Greenberg · Katy Lemay · Kris Hargis · Laurie LaFrance · Leigh Wells · Lilla Rogers · Linda Ketelhut · LINO · LULU · Marcos Chin · Margarete Gockel · Maria Carliuccio · Marta Windeisen · Matt Dicke · Max Grafe · Michael Hill · Michael Lotenero · Orlando Hoetzel · Peter Mundee · R/MY Simard · Rebecca Bradley · Rick Tulka · Robert Weiss · Roberto Parada · Roman Klonek · Sarajo Frieden · Sophie Blackall · Steve Dininno · Susan McKenna · Susanne Saenger · Susy Pilgrim Waters · Tifenn Python · Tim Okamura · Tim Tomkinson · Tim Zeltner · Tomasz Walenta · Tyson Smith