Sheila Hawkins wrote and illustrated over 50 children's books. Much of her early work is in the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, and her portraits of Australian Airmen and paintings of Australian Forestry Units working in Scotland are held in the Australian War Memorial.
Hawkins worked mostly in the UK but returned to Australia between 1948 and 1952. She was one of six illustrators commissioned by Penguin for the first Puffin Books. She continued to exhibit her work into her eighties. In addition to her work in the field of Australian literature, Hawkins also illustrated works by English authors, instructional books about animals and collections of African stories.
The Oxford Companion to Australian Children's Literature commented, 'She was an innovative illustrator whose fine lithographs of animals, and attention to page design, are outstanding'.