Getting inside The Outsider: the Book Illustration competition 2011 shortlist - in pictures

Matthew Richardson studied at Middlesex University and Central Saint Martins. He is currently working on a year-long project to provide promotional imagery for the V&A using items from their collection.
Part 1, chapter 2: 'I decided to go for a swim ... In the water I met Marie Cordona ... I had the whole sky in the eyes' Photograph: Matthew Richardson

Matthew Richardson
Design for the binding Photograph: Matthew Richardson

Chungwoon Choi is a 28-year-old Korean-born illustrator who won several prizes in Korea before relocating to the UK. He is studying illustration and animation at Kingston University
Part 1, chapter 1: 'Now, in the full glare of the morning sun, with everything shimmering in the heat haze, there was something inhuman, discouraging, about this landscape' Photograph: Chungwoon Choi

Chungwoon Choi
Part 2, chapter 2: 'So I learned that even after a single day's experience of the outside world a man could easily live 100 years in prison' Photograph: Chungwoon Choi

Joseph Melhuish has just completed his first year of a BA in Illustration and Animation at Kingston University.
Part 2, chapter 2: 'We both fell silent and Marie kept smiling' Photograph: Joe Melhuish

Joseph Melhuish
Part 2, chapter 4: 'I didn't look towards Marie. I didn't have time, because the presiding judge told me in some bizarre way that I would have my head cut off in a public square in the name of the French people' Photograph: Joe Melhuish

Alenka Sottler was born in Slovenia in 1958. She has won several illustration prizes and exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions.
Part 2, chapter 5: 'The worst period of the night was that vague hour when, I knew, they usually come; once it was after midnight I waited, listening intently. Never before had my ears perceived so many noises, such tiny sounds' Photograph: Alenka Sottler

Alenka Sottler
Part 1, chapter 1: 'I noticed at once that four men in black were standing behind the coffin and the screws in the lid had now been driven home. At the same moment I heard the warden remark that the hearse had arrived, and the priest starting his prayers' Photograph: Alenka Sottler

Georgina Hounsome is an award-winning illustrator. Her commissions have appeared in a range of publications including the Guardian and Time Out. She is also a lecturer at Falmouth University.
Part 1, chapter 6: 'Marie picked some rock irises' Photograph: Georgina Hounsome

Georgina Hounsome
Part 1, chapter 2: 'Soon afterwards, as the trams became fewer and the sky blackened above the trees and the lamps, the people gradually disappeared' Photograph: Georgina Hounsome

Anne-Marie Jones is a 22-year-old illustration student at Falmouth University. She is currently working on a series of images illustrating the fairytale Rapunzel, in preparation for her degree show.
Part 1, chapter 1: 'But I wasn't sure if I should smoke, under the circumstances – in Mother's presence. I thought it over; really, it didn't seem to matter ... ' Photograph: Anne- Marie Jones

Anne-Marie Jones
Part 1, chapter 5: 'We swam a long way out, Marie and I, side by side, and it was a pleasant feeling how our movements matched, hers and mine ... ' Photograph: Anne-Marie Jones