Axel Scheffler among children’s illustrators across EU to channel ‘anger and sadness and disbelief’ into gallery of images

The Gruffalo’s co-creator, Axel Scheffler, has enlisted leading children’s illustrators to create thought-provoking visions of Europe in response to Brexit.

Drawings for Europe brings together 17 illustrators from across the continent in a project that aims to promote the strengths of the European community.

“It’s nice to be able to do a bit of pro-EU propaganda, at a time when I think we children’s illustrators should not be quiet about this,” Scheffler told the Guardian. “After all, we make books for children who are our future, so we have a responsibility to say something.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Killiok prend soin de l’Europe (Killiok takes care of Europe), by Anne Brouillard. Photograph: Anne Brouillard

Scheffler, who was born in Germany and has lived in the UK since the early 1980s, said his contributions were his response to the despair he felt over his adopted country’s decision to leave the EU.



He said he was critical of many aspects of the bloc, but added: “I strongly believe that it’s completely wrong to break the collaboration and the sense of togetherness in Europe, and that’s something I wanted to speak up about.

“I’m full of anger and sadness and disbelief about this whole mess. I came here as an EU citizen to study because it was possible, and over 35 years it has been my home. Now all that has been brought into question.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Let’s Stick Together, by Patrick George. Illustration: Patrick George

The Hamburg-born artist – who has collaborated with the writer Julia Donaldson on The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, and A Squash and A Squeeze, among many other bestselling children’s books – said he had planned to remain in the UK with his French partner for the rest of his life.

“But in the worst-case scenario of Britain leaving without a deal, I cannot imagine carrying on living here,” he added. “I still haven’t given up hope completely that there will be a way to turn the whole thing round when it really hits people as to what it really means.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Axel Scheffler’s owl is a proposed coat of arms for the EU. Photograph: Axel Scheffler

One of the most poignant images in the collection is by the British illustrator Patrick George. Let’s Stick Together depicts a British child holding a helium balloon and floating away from her European friends, some of whom look on in bewilderment.

One of Scheffler’s two illustrations features an owl in the blue and yellow of the EU flag, which he has proposed as a new coat of arms for the EU. The other is of a group of mice holding aloft an EU flag and a balloon.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest European Dreams, by Kristina Andres. Photograph: Kristina Andres

They follow Scheffler’s intensely discussed illustration of the Brusselo, produced for the Guardian. His blue and yellow play on his most famous character was published on 23 June 2016, the day of the UK’s referendum on EU membership.

'There's no such thing as a Brusselo!' Read more

“There was a lot of animosity among the comments to that,” Scheffler said. “Like people asking, ‘What’s he doing here in the first place?’”



But he said the reaction had inspired him to keep responding to the political situation through his work. “I’ve never done anything like this before,” he added. “Like most illustrators I’m [an] introvert and prefer sitting at my desk, but now’s the time to speak out.”

The project was hatched by Markus Weber, head of the children’s book publisher Moritz Verlag, and Scheffler during a meeting on the day of the referendum. “I wanted to bring together our illustrators as Europeans who would point the way for the European community,” Weber said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Europe Means Overcoming Division and Separation, by Thomas Müller. Photograph: Thomas Müller

The illustrations will be exhibited from next week in Berlin at Germany’s ministry of labour and social affairs. They are to be auctioned next year, the proceeds og whichwill go to Pulse of Europe, a pro-EU citizens’ initiative founded in Frankfurt in 2016.

Not all the illustrations offer a positive view of the bloc. The veteran Dutch-Chinese illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing depicts the EU as a precarious balancing act and has called the EU project “a mere dream that can’t really work”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jouer in Europe, by Édouard Manceau. Photograph: Edouard Manceau

The German illustrator Ole Könnecke said he had struggled to come up with a positive image, but had then used a bird’s feather to draw the Europa of Greek mythology. “I found a bird’s feather and shaped it so that I could draw with it ... I thought to myself about everything that bird must have seen as it flew over the continent.”

The French illustrator Édouard Manceau plays with the letters of the word Europe. “I wanted to show the importance of the togetherness children feel when they play,” he said. “It’s a feeling we mostly lose as adults, but which we should be reminding ourselves about at fractured times like this.”