Beloved illustrator and author Graeme Base joins the Breakfasters to reflect on more than four decades of picture-book magic, from the global phenomenon Animalia to The Eleventh Hour and The Legend of the Golden Snail.

Now the subject of a new exhibition, The Hidden World of Graeme Base, he shares the unexpected origins of Animalia - his spontaneous urge to “draw everything”, and how the title he thought he’d invented turned out to be real Latin.

Graeme traces his path from fired advertiser to internationally celebrated creator, recalling early record-cover work, self-written stories, and the obsessive dedication that nearly eclipsed family life.

With more than 600 published artworks behind him, he looks back at school-day doodles, boxed-away sketches, and unpublished curiosities now on display - all part of a lifelong commitment to “service the artist in the kid.”