Famous British Illustrators

Christopher Tolkien was a French and English academic editor. The son of legendary author J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher edited much of his father's work, which was published after his father's demise. Christopher Tolkien is also credited with drawing the original maps in, The Lord of the Rings, one of his father's highly acclaimed novels.

Known for founding the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a legendary poet and painter of the 19th century. His illustrations also adorned the books of his poet sister Christina Rossetti. Known for volumes such as The House of Life, he also influenced the Aesthetic movement.

The son of architect L. Freud and the grandson of legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, painter Lucian Freud was born in Berlin but later moved to London to flee Nazism. He showed an inclination toward surrealism initially but later drifted to realism. Cedric Morris remains one of his notable works.

British illusionist Derren Brown was first drawn to the world of magic after watching a hypnotism show at the University of Bristol. The star of the long-running show Mind Control, Brown has participated in stage shows and written books, mostly with the aim of debunking the claims of false psychics.

Aubrey Beardsley was an English illustrator and author, whose works emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. A leading figure in the aesthetic movement, he was deeply influenced by black ink drawings. He attended classes at the Westminster School of Art before beginning his career as an artist. He was considered an eccentric person.  

John Flaxman was a British sculptor. He was a key figure in British and European Neoclassicism. Largely self-educated, he began his career as a modeler for potter Josiah Wedgwood's pottery. He then began sculpting grave monuments and earned a reputation as a prolific maker of funerary monuments. He was married to Anne Denman, who assisted him throughout his career.