Emma Quay — illustrator & author
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emmaquay.com
Emma Quay — illustrator & author
@emmaquay.com
190 followers 90 following 61 posts
Making children's picture books🖍
Rudie Nudie • My Sunbeam Baby •
Happy All Over
www.emmaquay.com
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emmaquay.com
A circle of sun on this rainy day: the paperbacks have arrived! MY SUNBEAM BABY in a new format, and I've always had a soft spot for a paperback. 💛
#kidlitart #💙📚 #PictureBook
Author-illustrator Emma Quay reading the new paperback edition of her picture book MY SUNBEAM BABY. The cover illustration shows a mother bouncing her baby on her knee, sitting on a hilltop with the sun behind them.
August 9, 2025 at 4:41 AM
emmaquay.com
My first ever #KidLitArtPostcard. 💙 I told myself I’d post it on the very next first Thursday after watching @brianlarossa.com’s entertaining and enlightening talk for @scbwi.bsky.social Mid-Atlantic last month (saved up for while I was on my solo residency). Fun to join in… at last! 😊
#PictureBooks
An illustration by Emma Quay from the picture book HAPPY ALL OVER. In it, a woman with grey hair sits in an armchair reading to four children who are on her lap and on the arms of the chair. A toddler on the rug at their feet lifts a flap in a board book.
August 7, 2025 at 12:45 AM
emmaquay.com
I'm back in my own studio in Sydney, with piles of pencil illustrations going on the scanner, one by one. ✏️✏️✏️
I’m finding rather a lot of tiny pen people in the margins (you'll see how tiny in the 2nd pic). Maybe they’re trying to sneak into the book…
#💙📚 #picturebooks #KidLitArt #emmaquaysketchbook
Tiny pen and coloured pencil illustration by Emma Quay of a girl carrying a stack of paper. A pen lies on the page nearby. Tiny pen and coloured pencil illustration by Emma Quay of a girl. A pen lies on the page nearby.
August 7, 2025 at 12:05 AM
emmaquay.com
I’m thrilled to discover "Happy All Over" has won the 2025 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award. They are voted on by our community, which makes it feel extra special. 😊
Thank you to all who voted for "Happy All Over" and to SCBWI HQ. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
www.scbwi.org/crystal-kite...
#kidlitart #SCBWI25CK #CrystalKiteAward #💙📚
The cover of the picture book HAPPY ALL OVER by Emma Quay with the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award medallion.
July 29, 2025 at 6:35 AM
emmaquay.com
This little person is going in the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust journal, as I finish my month-long residency. 🧡 🌱
#💙📚 #kidlitart
Photograph of a coloured pencil sketch by illustrator Emma Quay of a young girl in an orange jumper and green rain boots watering some young plants with a hose. The page lies on a green painted table with a pair of child’s scissors next to it. Photograph of a coloured pencil sketch by illustrator Emma Quay of a young girl in an orange jumper and green rain boots watering some young plants with a hose. The page lies on a green painted table.
July 28, 2025 at 9:51 PM
emmaquay.com
A third baby has joined this little family — the paperback of MY SUNBEAM BABY. ☀️☀️☀️ I think there’ll be a few copies at home when I return, so I’ll look forward to taking some pics then. 💛
#💙📚 #kidlitart
Two copies of the picture book MY SUNBEAM BABY by Emma Quay — the hardback and the board book. Cover of the picture book MY SUBEAM BABY by Emma Quay, in hardback. The cover illustration shows a mother bouncing her baby on her knee, sitting on a hilltop with the sun behind them.
July 28, 2025 at 1:38 AM
emmaquay.com
Do you think someone spotted me drawing her? 👀
#emmaquaysketchbook #colouredpencilsketch #australianillustrator #walktosee #kidlitart
An open sketchbook with a coloured pencil sketch by illustrator Emma Quay of a toddler girl walking across the road wearing blue rain boots and a floral aqua and pink anorak. A pink pencil lies on the page.
July 27, 2025 at 1:42 PM
emmaquay.com
Look where you’re going, little doggy.
#💙📚#kidlitart
Brush and ink sketch by Emma Quay of a dog walking along a paintbrush, looking back over its shoulder.
May 9, 2025 at 5:22 AM
emmaquay.com
Easter leftovers… 🐰
#emmaquaysketchbook #kidlitart #illustration #💙📚
April 20, 2025 at 9:53 PM
emmaquay.com
Quieter days, post-Bologna, with my younger daughter. #💙📚
#emmaquaysketchbook #sketchillustration #kidlitart
April 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
emmaquay.com
I loved our first day at Bologna Children’s Book Fair! Wonderful company (old friends and new)… and so much to take in. I can’t wait for more, tomorrow. 📚📚📚📚📚📚📚 @crosby-fairall.bsky.social
Author-illustrators standing in front of Bologna Children’s Book Fair signage. Emma Quay taping her posters to the Illustrators Wall at Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Emma Quay holding her picture book HAPPY ALL OVER, in the Australian stand at Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Author-illustrators standing in front of Bologna Children’s Book Fair signage.
March 31, 2025 at 6:17 PM
emmaquay.com
Can you tell I’m happy to be in Bologna! 🎶 The children’s book fair starts tomorrow. ✏️✏️✏️🎉🎉🎉
#💙📚 #emmaquaysketchbook #illustrationart #kidlitart
March 30, 2025 at 9:15 AM
emmaquay.com
Bye-bye, Florence. 🛤️ Heading to Bologna today, for the Children’s Book Fair next week. 🎉
#💙📚 #kidlitart #emmaquaysketchbook #illustration
March 29, 2025 at 8:03 AM
emmaquay.com
You’ll have to take my word for it that there was something quite spectacular behind her, but I was more drawn to the baby. Sorry!
#emmaquaysketchbook #walktosee #sketchbookpage #sketchillustration #💙📚
Open sketchbook with a drawing in pen and coloured pencil by illustrator Emma Quay of a baby of Kenyan descent holding a baby bottle and wearing a woollen hat, sitting on a bench in the Piazza Di Santa Maria Novella.
March 28, 2025 at 8:26 PM
emmaquay.com
Worth the wait! #sketchinginthequeue #insidetheduomo
#cattedraledisabtamariadelfiore #💙📚
March 28, 2025 at 4:27 PM
emmaquay.com
Hope you soak up a little happiness, on its International Day today! 💦
💙📚
#internationaldayofhappiness #happyallover #kidlitart #picturebook #emmaquay
Illustration from the picture book HAPPY ALL OVER by Emma Quay showing two children skipping through a shower of colourful raindrops. One child is holding her umbrella to the side to soak up the rain.
March 20, 2025 at 4:14 AM
emmaquay.com
What’s on the trolley in my studio?
Not just ✂️. Also, a ticket to something I’ve always wanted to attend… and it’s finally happening this month! 🇮🇹📚📚📚
Is anyone else going to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair this year? I know a couple of my brilliant friends are, and maybe we’ll see you there.
#💙📚
February 28, 2025 at 10:58 PM
emmaquay.com
Early childhood is very much where my heart sits, and to see HAPPY ALL OVER sharing the shelf with such beautifully child-centred picture books makes me, well… very happy.
Congratulations, all! I’m thrilled and honoured to find my book amongst the CBCA Book of the Year Award Notables.
#💙📚 #kidlitart
A copy of Emma Quay’s children picture book with a CBCA Notable Book sticker.
February 26, 2025 at 1:22 AM
emmaquay.com
Happier sketching than swimming! The view from the shade, Clovelly Beach, Sydney. ✍🏻 Loved doing the Coastal Walk with our overseas visitors today. 🌊
#pensketch #sketchbook #illustration #emmaquaysketchbook
Illustrator Emma Quay’s hand holding up a small sketchbook and brush pen. On the page are drawings of two girls in bikinis, and we see a view of rocks, Clovelly Beach and the ocean with sunbathers and swimmers in the background.
February 23, 2025 at 5:18 AM
emmaquay.com
Oh my goodness. These images of play and picture books really filled my cup. Thank you, Emma from Pages and Paint:
“Today we squished sundaes and read one of the sweetest books we own. Nothing fancy to say about it, just sharing a genuine play snippet that made us happy.”
#kidlitart #happyallover
The picture book “Happy All Over”, open to a colourful illustration by Emma Quay and with ice-cream sundae toys and confetti scattered around. The picture book “Happy All Over”, open to a colourful illustration by Emma Quay and with ice-cream sundae toys and confetti scattered around. The picture book “Happy All Over”, open to a colourful illustration by Emma Quay and with ice-cream sundae toys and confetti scattered around. The picture book “Happy All Over”, open to a colourful illustration by Emma Quay and with ice-cream sundae toys and confetti scattered around.
February 14, 2025 at 1:42 PM
emmaquay.com
What a lovely surprise! If you browse the Books Merit Awards of the just-announced 2024 iJungle Illustration Awards, you’ll spot some of my Happy All Over children amongst the throng.
Thank you, iJungle 2024!
I really enjoyed looking at the winner galleries:
www.ijungleawards.com/c%C3%B3pia-2...
💙📚
The iJungle Illustration Awards logo above an illustration by Emma Quay from her picture book HAPPY ALL OVER. The iJungle Illustration Awards logo above an illustration by Emma Quay from her picture book HAPPY ALL OVER. The iJungle Illustration Awards logo above an illustration by Emma Quay from her picture book HAPPY ALL OVER. The iJungle Illustration Awards logo above an illustration by Emma Quay from her picture book HAPPY ALL OVER.
February 1, 2025 at 7:37 PM
emmaquay.com
I wish Christmas lights stayed up all year. I think that might be why I put them in my books!✨✨✨

#HappyAllOver 💙📚#picturebook #kidlitart #australianillustrator #picturebookillustration
Open page from the picture book HAPPY ALL OVER by Emma Quay showing the detail of an illustration of trees with strings of coloured lights in them. Open page from the picture book HAPPY ALL OVER by Emma Quay showing the detail of an illustration of trees with strings of coloured lights in them. Open page from the picture book HAPPY ALL OVER by Emma Quay showing part of an illustration of children playing in a playground with a slide and sandpit. In the background are trees with strings of coloured lights in them. Open page from the picture book HAPPY ALL OVER by Emma Quay showing part of an illustration of children playing in a playground with a trampoline. In the background are trees with strings of coloured lights in them.
January 3, 2025 at 10:56 PM
emmaquay.com
A dad at the park this morning. It looks really like him… apart from one or two things! 💙💙
#draweveryday #pensketch #illustrationart
Pen sketch by Emma Quay of the head and shoulders of a man. He has blue eyebrows. A pen lies on the page.
December 18, 2024 at 9:45 PM
emmaquay.com
“Cheese!” 🧀 The second of my two new A4 limited edition prints — both illustrations from “Happy All Over”.
Hope you like them!
emmaquay.com/prints-shop/...
💙📚 #kidlitart #illustration
A framed print on a white wall. The image shows an illustration by Emma Quay from her picture book HAPPY ALL OVER of a young girl with an orange bow on her head peeping through a hole in a slice of Swiss cheese. An illustration by Emma Quay from her picture book HAPPY ALL OVER, showing of a young girl with an orange bow on her head peeping through a hole in a slice of Swiss cheese. The surface of a limited edition print lying on a table. The image shows a detail from an illustration by Emma Quay of a young girl with an orange bow on her head peeping through a hole in a slice of Swiss cheese.
December 12, 2024 at 11:49 PM
emmaquay.com
"Sticky-tape heaven" (a little girl lost in the art of making). Introducing no. 1 of my 2 new A4 limited edition prints — illustrations from "Happy All Over". I'll show you the 2nd tomorrow... but there might be a sneak peek (literally) in the last pic!
emmaquay.com/prints-shop/...
#kidlitart 💙📚
A framed print of an illustration by Emma Quay showing a young girl building with cardboard tubes and boxes. An illustration by Emma Quay showing a young girl building with cardboard tubes and boxes. The surface of a print from an illustration by Emma Quay showing a young girl building with cardboard tubes and boxes. Detail from an illustration by Emma Quay of a young girl with an orange bow on her head peeping through a hole in a slice of Swiss cheese.
December 12, 2024 at 6:45 AM