Other Children's Books and Illustrators who have inspired me

The main book that has really inspired and influenced my own children's book is 'Back to School Tortoise' (1) by Lucy. M George and illustrated by Merel Eyckerman.

I like everything about this book from the story, to the artwork, to the layout.
I like that the book is square, this makes for a very pleasing layout which is easy to hold for adults and children and makes the images easy to follow on the pages. I am very fond of the simplicity and clean, fresh appearance of the artwork and the layout of the pages. The book is friendly and relaxing because of these factors. As the books theme is dealing with the feeling of worry, I feel that the relaxing nature of the images makes for an attentive book. As I am creating a book based on the feeling of anxiety I feel that I also want to translate this feeling of calm in my book to balance out the negative feelings the child reading the story may be feeling and needing help to overcome.
I really like the use of water colour and the effect it creates in the images.
The type used in this book is very playful and child friendly. It's easy to read and keeps you interested in the story. I am going to find a font which will work like this in my book. Nothing too serious and not a font that is too playful and therefore hard to read. 

Another book that influenced me and my own book was 'Whiffy Wilson. The Wolf Who Wouldn't go to School'. (2)

I really like the layout of some of the pages in this book. For example, this double page spread:

I like that the background is just white, so the focus is on the character illustrations and text. This gives the eyes a rest from busy backgrounds on some pages and allows the reader to take in what the character is doing.