After learning basic design at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts School of Art and Design, Milne went on to specialize in book illustration at the London County Council College of Graphic Art in England in 1946. As part of the program, the London County Council College of Graphic Art held courses on publicity and marketing, allowing students, including Milne, to compete for publishing opportunities in book illustration. Milne's book illustrations were carefully worked out beforehand in her detailed sketchbooks. From there she created intricate pieces, often quite small in scale, engraved into the hard rubber surfaces of wooden blocks. As you can see here, Milne's woodblocks are themselves aesthetically pleasing, with deeply engraved contours contrasting with large flat areas of ink and delicate thin lines.

Aubrey Beardsley and Eric Gill were major influences on Milne's illustrations. Like Milne, Eric Gill was renowned for his wood engravings, stone carvings, and for his dedication to the Roman Catholic Church. Often Milne features dramatic figures highlighted on a minimal background. Eleanor Milne switched her focus to sculpture after realizing that, due to the increasing use of photography, the demand for book illustrators was declining.