Dusty Higgins
Branding
Dusty Higgins is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator who began his career working in newspapers as an editorial cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic designer. He’s worked in branding and marketing, as a professor of digital media, and as an animator/director (Star Forest). He fell in love with storytelling at an early age, drawing comics in elementary school, later writing and drawing three different comic strips four days a week for his college newspaper.
Higgins’ debut graphic novel, Pinocchio Vampire Slayer, was a 2010 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens from the Young Adult Library Association. Higgins has a Masters of Fine Arts in Animation from Savannah College of Art and Design, although that’s not nearly as impressive as his homemade pizza, cultivated from years of practice. When he’s not creating or cooking, he enjoys spending time with his wife, two children, two dogs, and a Venus fly trap named Vinny.
What do you love to do for fun?
I grew up waterskiing on the lake with my dad, who did so with his dad, and I happily take my children to the lake to sling them across the water as I continue that tradition.
What cool travel spots would you most highly recommend?
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Hong Kong is a treasure I’m happy to have been able to visit. The stairway up the mountain to it is lined with a hundreds of uniquely posed golden Buddha statues, and it was an inspiring place to visit.
Available for School Visits:
I enjoy talking with kids and giving them a behind the curtain reveal of what professional artists do, talking about ideation and explaining how artists start with sketches to create a blueprint, and what that work goes through next. Basically explaining to them why that how to draw books starts with circles and squares to make a bear, and how even people like me still do that. I like to bring in examples of work that I’ve done to show how things get made and what they look like in early examples versus and then show them what the final product that they see actually looks like. I’ve done this both with graphic novels as well as animation. I like to end the presentations with a group exercise, usually letting the students help me ideate a character or a short four panel comic, depending on how much time we have.
Visit Dusty at:
Website: https://dustyhiggins.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dusty_higgins
Bluesky: @dustyhiggins.bsky.social
Creative Process:
I once had an older, and wiser, colleague who taught painting describe to me how they would teach students the process of painting using a projected image over time. They began by projecting the image completely out of focus, so that the students would only see blurry shapes. The initial paintings would be abstract forms. But every so often, this professor would tweak the focus, slowly bringing the image into a sharp perspective. Each time, the abstract forms would be rendered to a finer degree, before the students finished their painting. My approach to each project I work on is much the same. I work in digital media, traditional mediums, in motion and static, and even in writing. The method works for all of those mediums, and can even inform a different approach to the medium. Begin simple and broad, then I analyze, refine, and repeat until it’s done.
Awards and honors:
2010 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, Young Adult Library Services Association
2015 Junior Library Guild Selection, Junior Library Guild
2017 Junior Library Guild Selection, Junior Library Guild
Specialties:
Action-adventure, 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, Middle Grade, Mystery, Non-fiction, Penciling, Picture books, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Typography, Writing, Young Adult
Who or what inspires you the most?
Nature. One of my go-to things to do when I’m feeling uninspired is to grab some gouache and my art travel bag, and find a nice spot for some plein air painting.
Published books:
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer (SLG Publishing, 2009)
Pinocchio Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater (SLG Publishing, 2010)
Knights of the Living Dead (SLG Publishing 2011)
Turok, Son of Stone Volume 1: Aztlan (Dark Horse 2011)
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Volume 3: Of Wood and Blood part 1 (SLG Publishing, 2012)
Pinocchio Vampire Slayer of Wood and Blood part 2 (SLG Publishing, 2012)
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer: Complete Edition (Top Shelf Publishing, 2014)
Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde (Simon and Schuster, 2015)
Valkyrie Beer Delivery (Stela Publishing, 2017)
Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Rise of the Robot Army (Simon & Schuster, 2017)
Forthcoming books:
Location:
Bryant, AR
Mediums:
digital, ink, watercolor, gouache
Published Books
Sarah Cathcart Anderson
Branding
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:
Jade Vaughan
Branding
Howdy, I’m Jade! I’m a comic bookworm currently based in Virginia. You can often find me lost in a library or forest somewhere. For the past few years I have worked multiple part time jobs (the hustle is real y’all) and as the creative director for Kids Comics Unite, a team passionate about fostering community and providing opportunities for kids-ya comic creators.
My fascination with storytelling is rooted from multicultural experiences I had growing up as a traveling military brat, a love for magical girls, and a deep appreciation for worlds you can sink yourself into to go on good ol’ fashion adventures. In my free time I enjoy baking, spilling tea with friends, and dreaming of one day owning a mango tree.
What is your favorite food?
Mangos! In fact, my content is rated M for Mangos. They’re amazing, 12/10.
What inspired you to make comics??
I didn’t think I could make comics for a long time, because I thought they were mostly stories of superheroes in the west or manga in the east. It wasn’t until I found Jen Wang’s Prince and the Dressmaker misplaced on a shelf at a Barnes & Noble, that I realized graphic novels were a thing in the U.S and GASP what — exploring topics like crossdressing in a positive way??
This was during a time when I was figuring out my own queerness, and it was genuinely life changing. It made me realize that creating these kinds of comics was something I absolutely could do!
Mediums:
I primarily use digital, however I have experience with watercolor, ink, and graphite. I would love to use analog tools for early reader comics, picture books, or illustration assignments.
Creative Process:
I usually approach characters first, followed by their world, and what medium (story length & type of art tool) best suits it. I try to grasp a very specific scene in my mind, and everything goes towards getting to that scene! How I get there is part of the fun.
As for coming up with ideas and getting inspired – I like to go on walks, research locations, or sit at a park or forest. They all add to the creative soup. I also like to stick large pieces of paper on the wall and write/tape stuff on it. It’s good to have a tangible vision board to go back to.
Location:
Virginia, US
Awards and honors:
Visit Jade at:
Published books:
Forthcoming books:
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Black & white, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Lettering, Manga, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Penciling, Picture books, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Young Adult
Available for School Visits:
I have not yet presented at a library or school but would love to! I’d happily give presentations on how to make four panel comics, my process making a book or zine, or even give an entire monologue on an ode to the mango while wearing a mango costume.
Philip Cheaney
Branding
Philip Cheaney was born and raised in rural southeastern Missouri. He is the middle of five children and lived, for a time, on a farm with 16,000 chickens, 40 cats, two goats, a pet possum, and a rotating cast of misfit dogs. He attended school for illustration and graphic design at Missouri State University and later received his MFA in illustration at The School of Visual Arts in New York. In the summer of 2022 Philip attended the La Maison des Auteurs comic and graphic novel residency in Angoulême, France where he wrought into existence the bulk of the idea for his debut graphic novel, Fresh Kills. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and works as a design director, but sneaks away to the country to go trout fishing when he can.
What do you love to do for fun?
I love trout fishing. It’s kind of like playing a slot machine, but you win fish.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Abel’s Island by William Steig
Awards and honors:
Mediums:
Brush pen with ink and digital
Creative Process:
While I dabble in a large variety of styles and mediums, my go-to medium is a combination of inking with a Pentel brush pen with Dr. Ph. Martin’s Matte Black Star ink or digital brushes with Procreate and then coloring digitally in Photoshop. I enjoy working with a rough, inky line that gives the work a gritty energy. I prefer to work with a limited color palette because of my tendency to become paralyzed with indecision. I always have to sketch and think out the solution on the page.
Location:
Brooklyn, NY
Visit Philip at:
Published books:
Forthcoming books:
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Lettering, Middle Grade, Packaging, Spot art, Typography, Writing, Young Adult
Available for School Visits:
In my presentations, I like to share my creative process and show how students can come up with their own ideas for crafting stories.
Coco Ouwerkerk
Branding
Coco Ouwerkerk (1992, known online as Colourbee) is a comic artist/animator, born and raised in Arnhem (Netherlands). Studied two years at ArtEZ Comic Design and three years at HKU 2D animation and obtained her HBO diploma there.
She has published “Small Press” comic books since 2016, including: Colourbee in de Pocket, L.O.C.O, The Meeting, together with two friends the manga Oyasumi. In 2023 there was a successful kickstarter for a small press along with 4 others with 18+ comic shorts called Sticky Pages.
Her debut album, Acception #Losers, was released in December 2017 by Uitgeverij Syndikaat.
This album was nominated for “Youth Album of the Year” in 2018. Since January 2019, Acception has been published together with WEBTOON as a digital comic, which can be read for free in English, French, and Spanish on the WEBTOON app. With more than 900k followers, Acception is Coco’s greatest success yet. You can now read 6 seasons on WEBTOON and there will be more to come. In the Netherlands, Volume 1: #Losers, and Volume 2: #Friendship, are now available as Dutch comic albums. In 2025, volume 1 and 2 will also be released in the USA by Publisher WEBTOON UNCROLLED. Volume 3 and more will appear at a later date in both Dutch and English.
What do you love to do for fun?
Watching anime, reading comics, big fan of Nintendo games and playing TCG like Pokemon/Digimon/Yu-gi-oh.
Making Japanese snacks like onigiri and takoyaki.
Staying in and playing games with my boyfriend or going for a walk in the woods or city together.
Do something with friends. Drawing, watching movies, playing video games.
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
Animals and nature inspire me a lot. A lot of fashion elements in Acception can be traced back to something animal or nature related. These things inspired my favorite shows like Pokemon, which uses animals as inspiration. Or Bluey, which uses every breed of dog. Or Myths, which uses reptiles to imagine dragons, etc. I love fantasy animals based on what we see around us. It makes you feel more one with nature if you see art inspired by it. It’s something we are all familiar with.
Awards and honors:
Nominated for youth comic of the year 2018 (Netherlands)
Location:
Mediums:
Creative Process:
Art Process for personal comic projects:
I make clear character designs. Colouring moodboard. Design the overall style. Write a finished story with clear genre for the target audience. With a somewhat open middle to be able to change stuff for the better if needed. But the beginning/middle/end is there. I thumbnail the pages. While making the pages I sometimes see better ways to illustrate the story and change small parts for better storytelling. I mostly work digital but for short comics I work with watercolor, copic markers, ink, pencils. When my comic is finished I print it and sell it on markets and online. I’ll make sure to promote my comic before it’s finished.
Art Process for assignments:
I first want to call or in real life meeting with my project partners/client to make a clear plan. I also would like to set up either an app or group discord to contact for quick questions if needed. If the assignment is only for a few illustration or a small project I’ll handle that with emails and calls. I will let the client know the steps I take and ask what steps they want to see from me. I always show sketches and ideas first. Then the finished black and white and lastly the colored version. Every round I want feedback if needed so that there is no confusion in the project. And we don’t have to do changes in the end.
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Drama, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Manga, Middle Grade, Moving storyboard, Non-fiction, Penciling, Picture books, Romance, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Storyboarding, Toy design, Writing, Young Adult
Visit Coco at:
Colourbee.co (still working on the website, nothing to see yet)
Instagram: Colourbee4 https://www.instagram.com/colourbee4/
WEBTOON creator profile: https://www.webtoons.com/p/community/en/u/colourbee
Forthcoming books:
Published books:
Acception Volume 1 & 2 (DUTCH) (Syndikaat, 2017)
Acception Volume 1: Losers (ENGLISH) (Webtoons Unscrolled, 2025)
Acception Volume 2: Friendship (ENGLISH) (Webtoons Unscrolled)
Available for School Visits:
I have visited highschools for presentations about how I got to becoming a Webtoon artist.
I visit my old art school once a year to teach a comic project for a week. And also do presentations on how to start a webcomic.
I have been asked to do some art-related workshops, from coloring for kids to making your own button to model art workshops. Or presentations about my work to comic-related events. Been on 2 different panels, one at Dutch Comic Con and one in Rotterdam Comic Con.
I’m not really open to do them much because I’m really busy with my Webtoon work so sometimes I have to say no. But once every few months is fine. I like to be around people so I try my best to make time.
Published Books
Nico and Candy Robertson
Branding
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
Branding
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
Ariel Rutland
Branding
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
Branding
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
Branding
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.
