Anna-Maria Jung
Pencils
I am a passionate Austrian illustrator with a quirky and sometimes dark sense of humor. I’ve been creating whimsical and endearing characters ever since I could hold a pencil, which naturally led me to explore graphic novels.
After earning a Master’s degree in Multi Media Art in Austria in 2007 (which included an internship at Bill Plympton Studios) and a Master of Arts in Illustration from FIT in New York in 2011, I began producing hundreds of charming and nerdy designs for the licensing market. My work also extends to illustrating children’s books for renowned publishers such as Macmillan, Workman Publishing, and Epic!
Comedy plays a central role in my art—especially when it comes to blending silly, innocent moments with a darker sense of humor. I’m fascinated by how the world can be both wonderful and terrifying at once, and how life itself is often just plain weird. I also have a special love for odd science topics, from gross bodily functions to parasitic lifeforms and beyond.
What cool travel spots would you most highly recommend?
Japan, anywhere! I have never been in a country that puts so much efford into the functionality and the design of things. And there are so many wonderful character designs everywhere!
Why is your humor so silly, but also dark?
Sometimes I wonder the same, and one thought I have is that in Austria, I grew up with quite “dark” children’s media. For example, a lot of Japanese/German animation productions featured themes such as death, suffering, and violence — for example, Alfred J. Kwak, produced in the late ’80s, had a cute duck experience terrible loss and other serious adult themes.
In addition, Austrian cartoonists I liked, such as Deix and Harderer, drew their subjects in a very unflattering light. Later in life, I was very influenced by the late ’90s Cartoon Network era and Monty Python. I have a lot of love for silly and dark humor.
Awards and honors:
Fulbright Scholarship, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) New York, 2009 – 2011: Master of Arts
Society of Illustrators, New York – Illustrators 54
Selected for inclusion in the annual exhibition and publication, 2012.
Star Trek: 50 Artists. 50 Years
Featured in this international traveling exhibition celebrating the franchise’s 50th anniversary, 2016.
Creative Process:
For most projects, everything starts with doodles in my sketchbook, maybe with a few research photos next to me. This always happens with analog materials, sometimes in a café. The doodle helps me nail down composition, idea, and mood.
The doodle works as a perfect underlay for the upcoming sketch phase. Usually, it takes me a couple of sketches — between one and five — to reach a stage that I consider ready for clean line art. To improve the sketch, I scan it in, mirror it in Photoshop, print it out at low opacity, and draw over it again multiple times. Sometimes a sketch feels like a “Quasimodo” in its first stage and slowly transforms into something presentable with each pass.
Something I learned is to keep making passes until the sketch works 100% (or at least 90%) — then I scan it and do the line art and color digitally in Photoshop. There, I work with many, many layers and very methodically. This means that I have a lot of easy control over the character’s position, color changes, etc.
This is all for finished client artwork — in my sketchbook, I go wild with watercolors, markers, and colored pencils.
Mediums:
Pencil on paper, digital, mixed media
Specialties:
Location:
Graz, Austria
Published books:
Redshirts: Star Trek’s Little Book of Doom (Insight Editions, 2016) – Illustrations
The Most Dangerous Book: Archery (Workman Publishing, 2017) – Illustrations
Turn This Book Into a Beehive (Workman Publishing, 2017) – Illustrations
TinkerActive Workbooks (Odd Dot / Macmillan, 2018-2020) – Covers & Character Designs
Creepy Cafetorium Vol. 1–3 (Epic!, 2019-2022) – Illustrations & one story concept
Disgustology: The Science of Gross (Odd Dot / Macmillan, 2025) – Concept & Illustrations
Turn This Book Into a Birdfeeder (Workman Publishing, 2025) – Illustrations
Forthcoming books:
Visit Anna-Maria at:
Webseite: https://www.annamariajung.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artofannamariajung/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artofannamariajung
Substack: https://annamariajung.substack.com/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-maria-jung-3780a320a/
Published Books
Sarah Cathcart Anderson
Pencils
Sarah Cathcart Anderson is an artist, writer and creative director living in the Pacific Northwest. She has spent many years collaborating with big and small brands, ad agencies and non-profits. Sarah is a graduate of Stanford University, with a theater major, and an alum and former instructor in the Art Center College of Design’s Advertising program. As an illustrator she works both digitally and in ink, pencil and watercolor, creating work that explores the magic and absurdity of the everyday world. When she’s not telling stories and making art, Sarah spends her time detangling her son’s wildly long hair, hanging with her dogs, and eating amazing food cooked by her husband, Food Network personality and Today Show regular Mark Anderson of The Grill Dads. Her family is thrilled she does so little cooking herself.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I loved so many! One of them was definitely Alexander and the Magic Mouse. The illustrations and characters were so vivid for me, and I loved the idea of being trapped in a rambling house reading sea stories and drinking tea with talking animals while a storm raged outside for 30 days and 30 nights. I still do.
Who or what inspires you the most?
My kiddo. He’s brilliant and wild and completely unique. He inspires me every day.
Mediums:
watercolor, ink, pencil, digital
Specialties:
Creative Process:
For me, everything starts with some kind of narrative spark: sometimes it begins with an image, sometimes with words, sometimes with an emotion or experience I’m trying to articulate. Then I grab whatever is nearest—scraps of paper, my notes app, an actual sketchbook (if I’m lucky)—and start scribbling. If I’m starting with words, my next step is to get to my computer and expand on the thought, trying to find the form in the narrative. If I’m starting with a visual, I draw some rough sketches on paper or on my tablet and get to know the new idea a bit. Either way, my next move is to really nail down the manuscript and then draw a loose storyboard so I can see how the story moves and breathes. Then I’ll play around with character design and choose a key moment to explore visually in more depth. I try obvious stuff, weird stuff, go down tangents, and then get to work drawing a more refined version on paper. I usually rough in with a light pencil, then come back with watercolor, then colored pencil, and then scan it into my tablet and noodle around with it in Procreate. At that point I’ll probably bounce back and forth between paper and tablet. Whether I’m writing or illustrating, a really important part of my creative process is to stop at different points and step away—when I come back with fresh eyes, I always find I bring something new to the work.
Location:
Boise, ID
Published books:
Forthcoming books:
Awards and honors:
Available for School Visits:
Visit Sarah at:
Rajiv Eipe
Pencils
Rajiv Eipe makes picture books, comics, and short animation films. He collaborates frequently with the writer C. G. Salamander, and some of the series they’ve worked on together are the Maithili and the Minotaur graphic novels, the Lost Creatures Picture Books, and the Nisha Small middle grade novels. In 2020, he was awarded the Parag Big Little Book Award for illustration for his contribution to children’s literature in India. He lives in Bangalore, India, with his family consisting of two cats, one dog, and one (other) human. He likes to doodle in his sketchbook, drink more coffee than he should, maintain an untidy workspace, and gaze into vacant space at regular intervals.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Mr. Clumsy by Roger Hargreaves. And a bunch of comics—Funny World, Detective Moochwala, and Gardhab Das, in a children’s magazine called Target, published in India in the 80s and 90s. I wasn’t a very good reader as a child, and images were a way into books for me. Looking back, it’s pretty incredible that a green blob with a yellow circle for a nose and a few strands of hair sprouting out of the top of his head and from under his nose can so vividly represent a character that you feel for and laugh along with.
What do you love to do for fun?
I love the outdoors and live in a city with a temperate climate and lots of great short hikes. I’m also an amateur birder, and will find time a couple of days a week to grab a pair of binocs and walk around a park or city forest near home (while silently muttering curses at people who wear bright colours and talk loudly inside a forest).
Awards and honors:
The Big Little Book Award for Illustration 2020 by the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts for contribution to Children’s Literature in India
Binod Kanoria Early Readers Award 2024 for Hello Sun
Mehlli Gobhai Award for Illustration 2022 for Chitty: A Dog and her Forest Farm
Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Picture Book Illustration Award 2022 for Dugga
Binod Kanoria Illustration Award 2022 for Dugga
The Hindu Young World Good Books Award for Illustration 2019 for Ammachi’s Amazing Machines
Creative Process:
Making rough drawings in sketchbooks or on loose sheets of paper is a way of thinking for me—my small brain can hold only so much. So every project or idea generally starts like this, with sketchy pencil drawings, whether I’m collaborating with a writer and responding to a manuscript, or working alone. I love the character design process and spend lots of time doodling many variations of a design till I find what feels like a good fit. I find it somewhat difficult and constricting to draw directly on a computer, so it’s usually pencil on (cheap) paper, but i often add colours digitally, especially on projects with short timelines. I’ve noticed that as images move towards completion, they lose some of the energy of initial sketches, so i’ve been making an effort to retain some of the freeness and looseness of rough drawings. I’m generally ‘drawn’ to silliness in stories and characters, and try and find inspiration for drawings from the sights and sounds of my immediate surroundings.
Location:
Bangalore, India
Mediums:
Pencil, Inks, crayons, colour pencils, mixed media, digital
Specialties:
Published books:
Dugga (Pratham Books, 2021)
Maithili and the Minotaur: Web of Woe (Puffin India, 2021)
Nisha Small: The Knot of Gold (Duckbill PRH 2022)
Maithili and the Minotaur: Forest of Forgotten Fears (Puffin India, 2022)
Hello Sun (Pratham Books, 2022)
How to Reach Mars and Other (Im)Possible Things (Puffin India, 2023)
When Fairyland Lost Its Magic (Harper Collins Children India, 2023)
Ajay of Agumbe and the Signal Snake (Pratham Books, 2024)
Nisha Small: The Strand of Silver (Duckbill PRH 2024)
Maithili and the Minotaur: Dolls of Despair (Puffin India, 2024)
The Pangolin Protectors (Pratham Books, 2025)
Song of the Asunam (Harper Collins Children India, 2025)
Forthcoming books:
Prabir’s New Flute (Duckbill PRH 2025)
Maithili and the Minotaur: Isle of Insanity (Puffin India, 2026)
Aalais like the Hills (Harper Collins Children India, 2026)
Available for School Visits:
No
Visit Rajiv at:
Published Books
Nico and Candy Robertson
Pencils
Hi, we’re Nico and Candy Robertson, a husband-and-wife creative duo who have been making things together since 2000, when we first met in high school art class. We are graphic, toy, and garden designers originally from New Zealand and Hong Kong, but now living on a thickly forested hill near Ballarat, Australia.
Our toy designs have been stocked everywhere from one-star-rated eBay sellers to fancy museums like MoMA, NYC. Over the years, we’ve had work featured alongside some pretty famous brands, but we’re most proud of being on wedding and birthday cakes. Oh, and read as someone’s favourite book. That is just incredible!
We are the creators of Noferin, Pecanpals, Jibibuts, Roobee Roo, and Archie & Reddie.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Neither of us grew up in houses filled with books. And whilst Nico at least has fond memories of teachers reading stories at school, young Candy had nothing more than study-aids. Poor little Candy. In fact, it wasn’t until years later, when Nico read Roald Dahl’s BFG aloud, that Candy realised how spellbinding books could be. So it’s only been in our adult lives that we’ve truly discovered the magical world of children’s books.
Nico’s favourite books are: Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A.Milne and E.H.Shepherd, Le Petit Nicolas by René Goscinnny and Jean Jacques Sempé, Maison Ikkoku by Rumiko Takahashi, and Yotsuba by Kiyohiko Azuma.
Candy’s favourite books are: Moomin by Tove Jansson, Richard Scarry’s books, Miffy by Dick Bruna, and Dr Slump by Akira Toriyama.
What is your favorite food?
Certain brands of Australian milk. When we travel, that’s the only thing we truly miss. It’s sweet and creamy and just oh so good!
(We’re big fans of all food, but if we had to choose one cuisine, it would be Japanese.)
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
The legacy of work left by Tove Jansson (Moomin). It’s a body of work that is both foreign yet familiar, strange yet soothing, quiet yet loud. It speaks to an inner voice that one didn’t know existed, and it lingers long after viewing. Story and characters aside, Tove’s work is populated by a strong design sense that has enabled her family to continue developing her world long after her passing; a rare gift that enables her characters to find new audiences and rekindle long-forgotten relationships with old readers. We just love that.
Awards and honors:
ARCHIE & REDDIE – I REALLY DIG PIZZA! 2022 Junior Library Guild selection
What do you love to do for fun?
Make things together. We love gardening, hiking, getting lost in forests, painting, cooking, designing, anything really. We just love making things and enjoy the process of seeing something evolve from nothing. The concept of “retirement” is completely foreign to us. How can you ever stop making things?!
Creative Process:
We work very closely together on all of our projects. Sometimes things start as an image or a visual feeling, like a certain expression, colour, or an experience that needs capturing. Other times it’s a certain joke, hook, or character flaw that we’d like to explore more.
To start, Nico distracts Candy with an important task, then he sits by himself in a dark corner somewhere and writes as many treatments of an idea as he can. If he’s on a roll, he’ll sketch some ideas to go with the notes. Once Candy has rejected all the nonsensical ideas, we get to work fleshing out the ones that do work. We write and draw together, scribbling a tree’s-worth of paper and HB pencils, until critical-mass is reached and we split into our main strengths: Nico on words, Candy on art.
After that, we become gardeners, watching unexpected things grow from unexpected places. Candy always sketches everything out with pencil on paper first. They’re pretty tiny at this stage, but all the details are there. Sometimes Candy will interpret something in a completely unexpected (but better) way. So we rewrite. Then we rewrite again. We redraw. Then redraw again. Once we’re happy with the overall flow, Candy digitally inks the sketches, sets up the colour palette, and then lets Nico fill in the blanks.
Eventually we end up with something worth sharing. So we send it to someone we trust, get their feedback, and the whole process starts all over again.
Location:
Visit Nico and Candy at:
What cool travel spots would you most highly recommend?
Kiso Valley in Japan. Beautiful views, historic villages, incredible walks, wonderful food, amazing details to notice (like little mosses and fungi growing on path markers), friendly locals trying to sell you moldy sweet potato, and abundant onsen. It really is the most magical place.
Forthcoming books:
Published books:
ARCHIE & REDDIE series of 4 books (Razorbill/PRH USA and HarperCollins ANZ, 2021)
ROOBEE ROO series of 21 books (Hachette ANZ, First 5 books published in 2023)
Mediums:
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Editorial, Game Design, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Manga, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Writing
Available for School Visits:
We love working with people, particularly young children. Whilst our current IRL visits are confined to Australia, we more than make up for this through our creative and enthusiastic virtual presentations. We enjoy turning our readings into theatrical plays, making full-use of music, animation, and hands-on props and sets. We get a kick out of designing special activities for audiences to participate in and are always keen to connect with readers in new ways.
Published Books
Tak Toyoshima
Pencils
Tak Toyoshima is the creator/illustrator of Secret Asian Man, a comic strip exploring race relations. It became the first nationally syndicated comic (United Features) with an Asian American lead. He is the art director for MICE (Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo) and teaches comics to middle schoolers on the weekends.
Tak has also won awards for cover design, layout, photo illustration, and info-graphics during his 10+ years as a creative director for Boston’s alternative newspaper The Weekly Dig. He advocated for the use of illustration for covers, working with hundreds of local renowned and up-and-coming artists such as Shepard Fairey, James Jean, and Peter Max, to name a few.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Dr. Slump (series) by Akira Toriyama. As a child I read a lot of comics, both American and Japanese manga. Dr. Slump stands out in my mind for so many reasons. It is hilarious, thoughtful, borderline inappropriate (without being raunchy), features extremely well-designed and interesting characters, but mostly I fell in love with the art style that seemed to flow effortlessly from childish simplicity to technically stunning detail.
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
I love working with kids. Not necessarily teaching AT them, but learning WITH them.
On Saturdays I teach a comics class for middle school kids to help develop their skills in writing as well as drawing. Their stories always remind me of what is at the core of my love for comics: the challenge of transferring stories in my head to blank pages. It’s important for kids to learn how to communicate and to expose them to comics as a playground where they can develop these skills in an open and non-judgmental way.
Mediums:
pencils, pen and ink, digital, coffee
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Lettering, Manga, Middle Grade, Mystery, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Typography, Writing, Young Adult
Art Process:
For pure illustration work-for-hire, it’s all about the client. To me the challenge is in finding my voice in the assignment. Usually the end goal is relatively simple. “We need a beer label with these elements. Use green and red.” “We need a spot illustration about the slippery slope of A.I. art. But make it funny.” Countless illustrators and designers can accomplish these goals but what is it that only I can offer? That’s what keeps me up at night.
Now, not all projects are created equal and I am certainly guilty of being less invested in some than others (gotta pay that mortgage!). But at the end of the day if I am putting my name to something I want it to stand alongside the best work. And when it comes to longer-form work like comics series and graphic novels, there are no excuses.
Available for School Visits:
I am currently represented by the American Program Bureau for speaking engagements and have been traveling to present about my comics work since about 2015. Most of my presentations have been at universities (Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Georgetown, Baylor, UNLV, etc.) speaking on my journey in comics talking about Asian representation, the challenges of advocating for a minority voice, and the complexities of race relations in America.
I have presented to younger students as well, from grade school through high school, where I mostly speak of the experience of working in comics and the effort that comes with the “fun” of drawing pictures for a living. Many of these talks include hands-on workshops where kids join in and create comics.
I have also presented at professional conferences for teachers, discussing how comics can be used in school curriculum and how the art form is a powerful tool for students to use for self-expression and critical thinking.
Forthcoming books:
Published books:
The Daily Days (collection of 3 years of nationally syndicated daily comic strips distributed by United Features, 2nd printing 2023)
Make Good Choices (print and online choose-your-own-adventure style book revolving around controversial social justice topics such as abortion, police brutality, critical race theory, gun control, 2023)
Kwok (anti-Asian hate crime fundraiser for local elderly care organization in Boston’s Chinatown, 2021)
RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now (Mariner Books, 2022)
Enough About Me written by Richard Lui (Zondervan Books, 2021)
New Frontiers: the Many Worlds of George Takei (SI Universe Media, 2017)
Gwan Anthology (Forward Comix, 2016)
Artists Against Police Brutality (Rosarium Publishing, 2015)
Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction (Stone Bridge Press, 2012)
Out of Sequence: Underrepresented Voices in American Comics (U. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2008)
Secret Identities: the Asian American Superhero Anthology (The New Press, 2009)
East Main Street (New York University Press, 2005)
Attitude 2: the New Subversive Alternative Cartoonists (NBM, 2004)
Location:
Hanover, MA
Awards and honors:
Visit Tak at:
Published Books
Jonathan St. Amant
Pencils
My name’s Jon, and I like to draw wizards, monsters, derpy chubs, pinups, and ninjas. By day I’m a middle school art teacher, and by night I’m a dad/graphic novelist. I’m also an amatuer beekeeper and hobby aquarist. I’m inspired by video game RPGs, fantasy movies and novels, science fiction and outer space, manga and anime, my students, and the ills of society.
After receiving my BFA in Drawing and Painting and Art Credential from Long Beach State, I moved away from the fine art world and dove headfirst into the warm and supportive communities of cartoons, comics, and kid lit. I love to consume and create unconventional stories with relatable themes, but my absolute favorite thing is character design. I live in Southern California with my wife (who collaborates with me on stories), my two boys, two cats, a bunch of fish, and bees.
What do you love to do for fun?
I love hiking, surfing, playing video games (especially RPGs), trying different foods, traveling, gardening, taking care of my aquarium, evangelizing about bees, collecting comics and graphic novels, and of course reading them.
What is your favorite book as a child?
One of my favorite books as a child was Richard Scarry’s What do People do All Day? I loved finding all the details in the backgrounds. If you were savvy, you could even find Lowly Worm.
Specialties:
Art Process:
Typically, I like to sketch out an idea in my sketchbook first. For references, I’ll use Google, my own photos, or Pinterest. When I’m happy with my sketch or layout, I’ll take a photo of it and import it into either Procreate or Clip Studio. From there, I’ll ink over the sketch on a seperate layer with my favorite digital brush (for Procreate it’s Maxpack’s MaxU Sable Inker Soft). After that, I add colors and other effects on different layers.
Awards and honors:
Teacher of the Year, 2011
Winner of the KCU logo/mascot contest 2021
Mediums:
Location:
Published books:
Critical Thinking: A Shepherd’s Guide to Tending Sheep, (Kendall Hunt, 2000)
Are You Mad? A Guide for Developmental Writers, (Kendall Hunt, 2001)
What a Trip, (Kendall Hunt, 2005)
Visit Jonathan at:
Available for School Visits:
I visit the same school every day (I teach middle school art), but I am also willing to visit other schools as long as I can use a sick day here and there. I like to do step-by-step draw-alongs.
Ariel Rutland
Pencils
Ariel Rutland is an award-winning designer and illustrator whose work focuses on themes of nature, curiosity, humor, and beauty in everyday objects. She grew up in a cozy central New Jersey suburb down the street from a great big house with a pond. Many weekends of her childhood were spent strolling the neighborhood with her Grandma, who would often take the train from Manhattan down to “the country.” She credits their endless neighborhood walks spent storytelling about the squirrels, birds, and rocks that crossed their path as inspiration for her art… and ability to (bring to her art?) view nature and the world through the wondrous eyes of a child…
Ariel graduated from University of Maryland with a degree in fine art and concentration in graphic design. She worked as a product designer at Martha Stewart, followed by lead designer at a boutique branding agency. Her artwork has been licensed to American Greetings, Minted, Target, and West Elm, being featured on greeting cards and home decor. She is currently illustrating a forthcoming children’s book. When she isn’t drawing and designing, she can be found playing in the backyard with her three young boys and husband in Yardley, Pennsylvania.
What was your favorite book as a child?
My bedtime book request was always Stellaluna. The illustrations completely transported me into the night sky. I now read it to my boys, who are equally as captivated and curious about these tender characters as I was.
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
Watching my kids grow.
Mediums:
Specialties:
Art Process:
I start by asking questions and diving into the subject matter to find answers and (hopefully) discover hidden gems that I can weave into the illustrations. I want to fully immerse myself in the world that I am about to draw. Then I do a lot of loose pencil sketches on paper, continuing to iterate until I find what’s working. Next begins my back-and-forth dance from digital to analogue and back. After I’ve sketched on paper, I create a digital version so I can easily manipulate the pieces—move the tree a little to the left, add some birds, change the season. After I’ve created this digital foundation of flat shapes, I move back to paper and use various media like watercolor, ink, and cut paper—sometimes scribbles from my kids— to create textures and other hand-made marks that I will eventually scan and layer into the digital file. I love using the Procreate app on my iPad and Photoshop for final refinements. Whether I’m working purely digital or a combination, it’s important I retain a hand-made, “perfectly imperfect,” emotive quality to the final art.
Location:
Visit Ariel at:
Awards and honors:
Available for School Visits:
Not at this time.
Published books:
Do Bees Pee? written by Linda Booth Sweeney (Harper Collins, 2026)
Apart, Together written by Linda Booth Sweeney (Harper Collins, 2022)
Published Books
Katie Risor
Pencils
Katie Risor is an illustrator, author, and graphic novelist making books for kids. In 2021, her illustrations for Month of the Military Child won a Texas Advertising Award, and her debut author/illustrator early reader, Welcome to the Forest: The Harvest Party, was published in August 2025, the first in a four-part series. Katie grew up in Texas, but now lives in New Syracuse, York with her partner, three cats, and the groundhog who lives under the porch.
Why do you like to draw creatures?
A lot of ingredients went into my brain and came out as my creatures. The true inciting incident is when I got The Neverending Story from Blockbuster when I was about ten years old. I watched that movie, and Falcor’s been flying up in my brain ever since. Before that, Snuffleupagus was my favorite Sesame Street character and I’ve always loved fairies, dragons, gnomes and such. But Falcor was life-changing.
Specialties:
Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Lettering, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Writing
Mediums:
Location:
Syracuse, New York
Art Process:
Every project, whether it’s a single illustration or an entire book, starts with an idea. Ideas can pop into my head anytime, but whenever I want to get a new idea I lie on the floor, close my eyes, and wait. Lying on the floor with properly inspiring music will usually give me something.
Next is brainstorming and iteration. For a whole book, this means sketching and storyboarding. For a single illustration this means doing iterative compositional sketches. I want to choose a composition that effectively delivers information to the viewer but is also pleasant, surprising, or delightful to look at, something that goes beyond the main idea.
The best illustrations I do always come from ideas I can see clearly in my head and for which I have a solid execution plan. However, I do like to leave room in the process for playing around. I think that’s why I like traditional media so much; no matter how much you know about the medium, you can’t be fully in control.
Visit Katie at:
Available for School Visits:
I love teaching art workshops for kids of all ages, but especially youngsters. I showcase the design process and inspire kids to tap into their own creativity. I do demos on “what if” storytelling, comics, drawing fantasy creatures, and painting. And finally, I explain the book making process and what sort of jobs creative kids can go into.
Published books:
Welcome to the Forest: The Harvest Party (Andrews McMeel, 2025)
Welcome to the Forest: The Lake Trip (Andrews McMeel, 2026)
Forthcoming books:
Welcome to the Forest book 3 (Andrews McMeel, 2026)
Welcome to the Forest book 4 (Andrews McMeel, 2027)
Published Books
Leonardo Quiles
Pencils
Leonardo Quiles is an author, illustrator, and educator. His career in computer generated visual effects for feature film and advertising laid the groundwork for his interest in sequential narrative. Visual storytelling inspires his interest in developing original content for children’s graphic novels, as well as animation, editorial illustration, and other comics work.
Leo studied Illustration at Parsons School of Design and holds a BA is Art History from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and an MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford. He is an elementary school Visual Arts teacher working and living in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts with his wife, their two children, and their puppy Roxy.
Leo is the recipient of the 2021 We Need Diverse Books Mentorship with author/illustrator Mike Curato, Flamer, Henry Holt, 2021.
What was your favorite book as a child?
My favorite book as a child was Where the Wild Things Are. I remember wanting to draw like Maurice Sendak, even as a child. I would copy his characters, sometimes tracing them. I especially liked the griffin character from the Wild Rumpus scene. I imagine there is still an element of Sendak’s work influencing my own work today.
Visit Leo at:
Specialties:
Black & white, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Writing
Art Process:
I keep a sketchbook and I draw regularly. My design process always begins with drawing. My solution is found somewhere between my head and my hand. As I am cognitively working out the design problem, I am also visually problem solving on paper. Once I have a sketch I’m happy with, I’ll bring it into Procreate to clean-up, to finalize the composition and to set the scale for the final artwork. The sketch is then printed onto a heavy stock paper, like watercolor or vellum. If the final work is a comics page, I’ll ink the line work traditionally with steel nibs and paint watercolor for the fills. If the work is a more traditional illustration, I’ll paint the final steps in gouache.
Location:
Mediums:
Awards and honors:
2021 We Need Diverse Books Mentorship Award with author/illustrator Mike Curato, Flamer, Henry Holt, 2021.
2021 Practice Kindness, pencil, ink, watercolor on paper. Norman Rockwell Museum – permanent collection.
2019 Charmed, porcelain. 20-year anniversary show for Sienna Patti Contemporary, Lenox, MA. Museum of Fine Arts Boston – permanent collection.
2018 Murray Tinkelman Award for Excellence in Illustration.
Available for School Visits:
I am an elementary school visual arts teacher. In many ways, I feel as though I do a school visit every day!
For author visits, I read a passage from my graphic novel, HOME, then lead an activity where we create a “mini-zine” with 8.5×11’ paper and pens. I can also work with students to create a folded paper sculpture of a traditional folk mask, a vejigante, that they can color, cut, fold, glue and wear.
Claudia Rueda
Pencils
Claudia Rueda is a Colombian picture book author, New York Times Best Seller illustrator and a 2016 Hans Christian Andersen award nominee. Her books have been published throughout North America, Europe and Asia and have been translated into thirteen different languages. She’s the author of Bunny Slopes (Chronicle), a New York Public Library and Junior Library Guild Selection and the illustrator of Here Comes the Easter Bunny (Dial), a Kirkus Best Book of the year and a Goodreads Choice Award.
Claudia went to Law and Art school and worked as a political cartoonist in Colombia and then studied Children’s Book Illustration at UC Berkeley. She holds a MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and she’s the 2009 recipient of the Billie M.Levy research grant awarded by the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I didn’t have access to many children’s books as a child. But I remember going again and again through the Andersen, Grimm, and Oscar Wilde illustrated collection we had at home. I remember every simple picture from those books.
What do you love to do for fun?
Hiking, biking, traveling, reading, walking, cooking, bookstores, swimming, visiting markets, eating ice cream and laughing with my daughters.
Mediums:
Art Process:
I normally start by doodling, writing notes, and drawing rough sketches. I use a light color pencil for the first lines, then go over them with a 2B pencil. I find it intimidating to start with expensive paper or with an unerasable line. I’d rather allow myself to make mistakes.
The next step is to create a storyboard, and from there, a rough dummy of the book. Once the visual narrative seems to be working, I work on the appearance of the characters and then the sketches for the final art. After a few months I experiment with different media until I find the one that fits the story.
Specialties:
Animals, Black & white, Board books, Character design, Concept art, Editorial, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Non-fiction, Picture books, Storyboarding, Writing
Awards and honors:
Junior Library Guild Selection
NYPL Best Books for Kids SelectionHans Christian Andersen Award NominationAstrid Lindgren Award NominationKirkus Best Books SelectionGoodreads Choice AwardsNew York Times BestsellerBank Street College Best Children’s BooksAmazon Little Bookworms SelectionParents Magazine Best Children’s BookCCBC choice selectionOppenheim Platinum AwardIBBY Honor List Nomination
Available for School Visits:
I do library visits, both for children and librarians. For children, I do storytime, make some drawing samples and answer questions. For adults, I talk or give a workshop on picture book creation.
Visit Claudia at:
Location:
Published books:
AS WRITER AND ILLUSTRATOR
The Smushkins: Colors (Candlewick, 2026)
The Smushkins: ABC Zoinks (Candlewick, 2026)
Meet the Smushkins (Candlewick, 2025)
Redlocks and the Three Bears (Chronicle Books, 2021)
Bunny Overboard (Chronicle Books, 2020)
Hungry Bunny (Chronicle Books, 2018)
Bunny Slopes (Chronicle Books, 2016)
Is it Big or is it Little? (Eerdmans, 2013)
Huff & Puff (Abrams Books, 2012)No (Groundwood, 2010)
My Little Polar Bear (USA· Scholastic Press, 2009)
Let’s Play in the Forest While the Wolf Is Not Around (USA· Scholastic Press, 2006)
AS ILLUSTRATOR
Here Comes Teacher Cat · Text by Deborah Underwood (Dial Penguin, 2017)
Here Comes the Tooth Fairy Cat · Text by Deborah Underwood (Dial Penguin, 2015)
Here Comes Valentine Cat · Text by Deborah Underwood (Dial Penguin, 2015)
Here Comes The Easter Cat · Text by Deborah Underwood (Dial Penguin, 2014)
Here Comes Santa Cat · Text by Deborah Underwood (Dial Penguin, 2014)
Nacho and Lolita · Text by Pam Muñoz (Scholastic Press, 2005)
Forthcoming books:
The Smushkins 4 (Candlewick, 2026)
The Smushkins 5 (Candlewick, 2027)
Published Books
