He recalls that there has always been very few artists ever since independence. He gives prominent names of artists in chronological order: Mohamed Raza, Juma Salum, Philip Ndunguru and Risasi (1970s - 1980s); Marco Musa, David Chikoko, Philip Ndunguru, Ibra Washokera, Masoud Kipanya, Paul Ndunguru, Abdul Gugu, Ali Masoud, Walter Lema, Cloudy Chatanda, Collins Mdachi, Gwalugano Ayoub and Godfrey Semwaiko (from 1990s to present). However, he said most of these artists undertake illustrations jobs only when they have time to do so, otherwise they spend most of the time doing other things.

Those who are exclusively on illustrations include: Collins Mdachi, Abdul Gugu, Cloudy Chatanda and Walter Lema. The history of the development of talents among illustrators, so he says, came about with development of educational policies and the book industry in the country. In the 1990s, the Children's Book Project was established with funds from CODE. Under CBP, several seminars were organised for young illustrators. Also, several orientations were organised whereby young artists had opportunities to go to publishing houses in Zimbabwe and Kenya. In those publishing houses, these artists had opportunities to familirize themselves with how to illustrate a book. Change in textbook policy also affected the number of illustrators in the country.

When the government adopted the multi-textbook policy, several publishing houses sprung up, thus there was a bigger demand for illustrators. This pushed up their number. The same happened when Care International initiated a program to try and help schools establish their own libraries in 2001 - 2004. This was through what was known as TUSOME Project. There was a bigger demand for illustrators than before. Now that the government has shown signs of going back to the single textbook policy, CBP's change of approach and the coming to an end of the Tusome Project, have caused the number of illustrators to shrink down to about five.

The country still faces several challenges: at college and university levels, art is not yet a separate discipline, this is unlike the time before 1967 when East Africans joined Makerere University and undertook fine arts thus bringing forth such big names as Elimo Njau, Sam Ntiro and Prof Jengo. Therefore, artists have to teach themselves and sometimes work under established artists in order to gain experience as well as the ABCs of practising art. Othe challenges include: lack of appreciation from consumers of services that illustrators provide, lack of art directors in publishing houses as well as in government agencies and/or departments that have to assess educational materials that include works of art; also the fact that the book industry is not yet fully developed in the country.

Collins Mdachi says he was inspired by works of such artists as Philip Ndunguru (the late), Brandt, Durell, Cezanne, Leonardo da Vinci and Michael - Angelo. He is optimistic that there is a bright future for artists in the country, especially, those who are ready to learn modern technology in their works.