Eric Carle is one of my favourite artists. His books are not only beautiful to look at for the students but also easy to reproduce as an art lesson. Visit his site often to get lots of ideas.
It's a good idea to have a variety of artistic styles to satisfy the different tastes of your students. Specialized books on cartooning, graffiti, manga, comics etc. really appeal to the students.
I love this book! Not only is the story clever but the images are uniquely created. Lauren Child uses multiple mediums to produce her work, such as collage, printing, sketching and photography all combined together. Another book to inspire the kids.