"I got into illustration because of an interest in history- visual history. There's a huge amount of research"

Stephen Biesty is king of the cross section . Working with Richard Platt, who writes the text, he has worked on a variety of information books for both adults and children. His first book was published in 1992.

"I suppose deep down my interest in history stems from a sort of curiosity. I always liked looking at buildings, working out how they were made. When you start to draw a building, for example, as you get to to grips with the perspective, you begin to understand how it works, how it's put together. With Cutaways you can explore it even further".

Magic Word: Detail
"There's really no end to the amount of detail you can include". More

Magic tricks of his trade
Stephen Biesty uses nothing but paper, pen and ink and water colour paints. He never uses a ruler, drawing everything freehand "I don't use a computer and I don't think I ever will. I always put in figures. As an illustrator you quickly catch on to the fact that nobody's going to look at it if there's no human interest". More

Inspiration
For cross sections: Lesley Ashwell Wood's cross sections in the Eagle comic.
For period detail: Dutch painters like Brueghel and Bosch, Films like El cid.
For reconstructional drawings: David Macaulay, Alan Sorrell.

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