Children’s book illustrator for a traditional picture book

The story is set in a coastal Irish village and features a shy young octopus, his best friend a little girl,a wren, a hare and an Irish wolfhound.

I have visual mood-board references for tone, colour and character atmosphere, but I do not want these copied exactly. I am looking for an illustrator to reinterpret the world in their own original style, ideally using watercolour, pencil, ink and wash, or a soft traditional picture-book style.

For this first stage I would like:

One sample spread

A small octopus portrait/bookplate image

Final artwork must be original human-created work, not AI-generated or AI-assisted. Please include examples of children’s illustration, animals, expressive characters and natural landscapes.