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I bet you can't guess that I love to draw and draw and draw. I do it all
the time, even when I not working as an illustrator. I carry a sketchbook
with me wherever I go. I wasn't always good at it, so I took art classes,
lot of art classes, and I still take art classes. I even packed up and moved
three thousand miles to learn from the best artists.
The other things I love are humor, magic, silliness, being young at heart,
adventure and sailing. Now for a job that let's me include those things.
That's where illustrating Children's Books came in. As a Children's Book
Illustrator, I can incorporate most of the things I love into the job and
get paid to do it. Then on the weekends, I can sail and find adventures.
Let me tell you, illustrating children's books is the greatest adventure
I could have asked for, except for being a Queen.
Once a fellow artist told me that if you want to be a 3-D artist you need
to have a 3-D life. Meaning that the more experiences you have in life
the more life you can put in your work. So new experiences and
adventures play a big part in my life, just as much as drawing. Think
about it, some of the most interesting people you want to meet have had
lots of different and wonderful experiences.
My first book was "Timbo and the Butterfly." A friend of mine suggested
we do a picturebook. He wrote the story and I illustrated it. His father
owned a printing company and printed us a small number of copies. We
gave most of them to family and friends, sold a few in a local bookstore
and even got an article about the book in the Baltimore Sun. That's when
I knew I really wanted to do this work.
In 1991, after eight years as a graphic designer, I started the journey of
Children's Book Illustration and since then I have illustrated a number
of picturebooks, done educational work, and product illustration. I have
also worked for Disney (Pooh and Friends), Warner Brothers Studio
(Looney Tunes), Scholastic (Magic School Bus-worked on eleven video
covers with another artist), while trying to build up my own client list.
In my spare time I teach art to kids. This helps me to stay young at
heart, to keep up on what kids like and to share the knowledge I have
in art. It also helps me to learn new things, like did you know that
every time a fly lands it spits up? I like it best when the kids teach
me new things.
Currently, I am living on earth with all my characters, oh, and with family.
Don't want to forget them. I live in Maryland with the cows, green hills
and lots of great characters. Where my adventures take me to next is
anyone's guess, but I am hoping that they open a school on the moon
so I can do a presentation of my art there.
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Artist: Jason Gillette
