Welcome to the 17th edition of The Art Book The 2005 edition puts you in touch with the nation's best illustrators. Over 300 pages in this year's edition puts you in touch with the nation's best illustrators represented by 17 of the UK's leading agents. And that's not all - on many of the pages in the on-line edition of the book at www.theartbook.com you will find the agent's domain name hot linked directly to their web site, enabling you to drill down to view the portfolios of individual artists allowing you to access literally thousands of additional images. With each edition, The Art Book celebrates the creativity of those who work in our industry today and continues to be the first choice of the world's art buyers. The resurgence of popularity in illustration owes as much to illustrators' ability to reinvent themselves, as it does to the versatility of the medium itself. Nowhere is this more self evident than in today's print media, as we see the blurring of boundaries between a host of different media. There can be no doubt however, that whatever their medium of choice, the individuals to be found in the following pages will find creative solutions to challenging briefs and repay the efforts of the more imaginative Art Director tenfold. For a second year The Art Book, in conjunction with Transport for London, The AOI and many other leading UK brands is delighted to support The Society of Artists Agents in a major illustration awards scheme. The resulting winners of the competition are previewed at the beginning of this book and demonstrate the very high standards achieved in both diversity of style and subject matter. The competition, planned to become an annual event, will continue throughout 2004/5 with more details to be found on the SAA web site www.thesaa.com John Pidgeon Publisher JPC © 2005