Award-winning illustration for children's publishing, and the editorial and advertising industries.
Unique and creative designs for manufactured products and the social expression industry.
Shadra Strickland
Shadra Strickland studied design, writing, and illustration at Syracuse University, and completed her M.F.A. at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She won the Ezra Jack Keats Award and Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009 for her work in her first picture book, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott. Shadra is passionate about promoting positivity through her work, and her ultimate goal as a picture book author and illustrator is to teach children how to live their dreams. Her style is a whimsical blend of reality and imagination, and she loves to create stories that children can see themselves in. Shadra travels the country conducting workshops and sharing her work with children, teachers, and librarians. She currently teaches illustration at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.
Lucie Crovatto
Lucie Crovatto studied graphic design at Laval University before beginning her career in editorial illustration in the U.S. and Canada. In addition to being the founder of a greeting card company in Canada, her designs have appeared in major advertising campaigns for the Montreal Airport, Airmiles, Jean Coutu Drugstore, and Loblaws Grocery. In the U.S., she has illustrated for Elle, Reader’s Digest, and Parent’s Today, among other publications. Lucie has also designed greeting cards for Madison Park Greetings and Marian Heath. She has illustrated nearly a dozen children’s books in French-Canada.
Gabrielle Grimard
Gabrielle Grimard has been drawing since she was a very young child. Born in Montreal, she studied Fine Arts at Concordia University. She began her career as a muralist, painting numerous walls in commercial buildings in the Montreal area. Between 1998 and 2001, Gabrielle had many solo shows in the Plateau Mont Royal area of Montreal. In 2001, after giving birth to her first child, Gabrielle began her career as an illustrator. She has illustrated numerous pictures books in the US and Canada.
Kevin Zimmer
As a child, Kevin Zimmer could not resist drawing on any available scrap of paper or napkin. Greatly encouraged by his parents to pursue his passion for illustration, he attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, MI. While still completing his senior thesis, his career was launched with the American Greetings Corporation, where an internship soon evolved into the position of Creative Developer. In 2002, Kevin took the leap into a freelance career based in his hometown of Kalamazoo, MI. Over the past 17 years his love for character development, dynamic compositions and playing with color and light has been seen on multiple products such as children’s books, magazines, and greeting cards, as well as an occasional napkin.  Through his illustrations, Kevin strives to fully immerse readers in the emotions and moods evoked by the author’s story, making sure each detail reinforces and brings to life the meaning in the text.
Betsy Snyder
Betsy Snyder is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, most recently earning a place in the Society of Illustrator’s The Original Art 2012 exhibition. Her book, I Haiku You, was selected as a “New Classic” by Scholastic Parent & Child. Betsy loves to create smile-inspiring art for kids and the young at heart—you can see her colorful collages and cute images on all kinds of things, from children’s books to board games to stickers to greeting cards. Betsy lives in near Cleveland, Ohio, where she shares a studio with her graphic-designer husband.
 Barroux
Born in Paris and raised in Morocco, Barroux has an instinctive passion for travel and exploring other cultures. It’s no surprise that he approaches each new book he is illustrating as if it’s the beginning of an adventure. Barroux strives to create unusual artwork, and when creating picture book art, he always tries to surprise the little kid that is inside of him. He studied photography, art, sculpture, and architecture in France at the famous École Estienne and École Boule, and his mastery of these other mediums influences his illustration. He began illustrating by creating linocut images, and continues to try out various techniques in his work – from collages with antique papers, to oil pastels, to interesting color palettes. Despite all of the countries and far-away lands he’s explored, Barroux still believes that life in books is more extraordinary, where dogs can fly and trees are blue.
Vanessa B Newton
Vanessa Brantley Newton is a self-taught illustrator, doll maker, and crafter. Her passion for children’s books began when she came across Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats as a child in the 1960s. Snowy Day marked one of the first representations of black children in picture books, and seeing a character that looked like her and lived in a neighborhood like her own was a turning point in Vanessa’s life. Vanessa celebrates self-love and acceptance of all cultures through her work, and hopes to inspire young readers as Keats did for her and a generation of children. Growing up in a musical family who loved to sing, Vanessa’s illustrations are as fun and whimsical as a beautiful melody. Her style is influenced by retro art and fashion from the 50s and 60s. She is the author and illustrator of Let Freedom Sing and Don’t Let Auntie Mabel Bless the Table, and has illustrated numerous children’s books including One Love & Every Little Thing, words by Bob & Cedella Marley, and Presenting Tallulah written by Tori Spelling. Vanessa currently makes her nest in Charlotte, NC with her husband of 20 years, their daughter, and a very rambunctious cat named Stripes.
Jill Dubin
Jill Dubin grew up in Yonkers, NY and received her BFA from Pratt Institute. She has illustrated over 30 children’s books for a range of publishers. Jill works extensively with cut paper collages, enhanced with pastels and colored pencil. She collects paper and fabrics from various sources, and enjoys crafting paper houses and ornamental birdhouses and mobiles in her spare time. Asian art and textiles inspire the strong sense of color and pattern that she uses in her illustrations. Her picture book Over in the Arctic, published by Dawn Publications, was honored with a Mom’s Choice Gold Award in 2009
Mircea Catusanu
A native of Romania, Mircea Catusanu received a BFA in 1992 and an MFA in 1994 from the Fine Arts Academy of Bucharest, with a major in painting. His work was shown in galleries in Europe and is a part of private collections in Romania, Japan, France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and the US. Mircea began illustrating after he moved to New York in 1995. He has illustrated for The Washington Post, Clubhouse Jr. Magazine, Viking, Scholastic, Random House, and many others. He wrote and illustrated The Strange Case of the Missing Sheep, which was released to critical acclaim by Viking in 2009.
Stephen Costanza
Stephen Costanza studied music theory and composition at Syracuse University before attending the Philadelphia College of Art to pursue a career in the visual arts. He worked as both a graphic designer and illustrator in a career that has encompassed silk screening, graphic design, and book illustration. Stephen’s background in music led him to write and illustrate the picture books Mozart Makes a Melody and Vivaldi and The Invisible Orchestra, both from Henry Holt & Co. Stephen’s illustrations have appeared in magazines, newspapers, advertising, and textbooks, from The American Prospect and Cricket to brochures for the Boston Ballet, Four Seasons Hotel, and Boston Lyric Opera. Five of his paintings were exhibited at the 2000 Children’s Book Fair in Bologna. He lives in Belfast, Maine.
Eric Comstock
Eric Comstock was encouraged to pursue a career in the arts after taking an illustration class in college. After working in advertising for 11 years as an art director, he shifted gears and took up freelance illustration. Since then he’s worked with Land of Nod, Hallmark, Shutterfly, TeNeues, Moda Fabrics, Oopsy Daisy, Graniph, and many others. His illustrations are bright and quirky with a mid-century modern appeal. Eric is inspired by music and his passion for children’s books grew from their colorful expression, which reminded him of music on the page. He collects old Jazz albums to open up his creative pathways and stir up new ideas. Eric lives in Austin, TX where he and his wife, who is also an artist, work together while raising 4 kids and one dog.
Sue Cornelison
Sue Cornelison graduated with a BFA from Drake University in Art Education with an emphasis in drawing and painting. She then traveled to Florence, Italy to continue her studies at the International School of Studio Arts. Sue has worked as a full time illustrator for over a decade, exploring many techniques and styles. She wrote and illustrated The Twelve Days of Christmas in Iowa, published by Sterling.

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