Imagining Wondrous Worlds
With almost 50 titles to his credit, renowned illustrator Will Hillenbrand enjoys the trust and approval of publishers like Holiday House, Houghton Mifflin, Harcourt, Alfred A. Knopf, Candlewick Press, Philomel Books, Margaret K. McElderry, Scholastic, Marshall Cavendish and Dutton, which enlist him to bring to vivid life the words and vision of the best
stores and library rooms, an experience that helped me get to know what’s appropriate and essential for good storytelling, and also which publishers my work might be right for,” he says. “On my first visit to New York City, I went to four publishers and ended up getting contracts with three of them.”
Well-known illustrators like Tomie dePaola and Jan
Brett have distinctive styles that remain consistent from story to story. For Hillenbrand each book offers fresh opportunities. What’s noticeable about Hillenbrand’s work is that he has a range of styles from which he can choose—an enviable position achieved through formal training that emphasized drawing, color theory and graphic
design. In addition, in common with many other children’s book illustrators, he has fond memories from childhood—of his grandmother’s stories, especially. Maybe it also helped that his father was a barber and the barbershop was a den of storytellers. Beyond the stories he heard, Hillenbrand’s mother initiated his love of drawing. When he was a small child, she made drawings for him while he sat on her lap.
www.artistsmagazine.com ■ November 2008
authors of children’s literature working today, such as Eric A. Kimmel and Jane Yolen. Adept at altering his style to serve the story and of imaginatively presenting multicultural worlds, Hillenbrand has illustrated tales set in the Congo, China, South America and Ancient Arabia as well as in suburban neighborhoods in the United States. Prior to establishing his career as an illustrator, Hillenbrand worked as a graphic artist for an advertising agency. His marriage to Jane Bar-nick, a schoolteacher, reintroduced him to the world of children’s literature and kindled his intention to pursue book illustration. Realizing that he would have to get a portfolio of illustrations together if he were to interest a publisher, he negotiated a three-day-a-week schedule with his boss at the ad agency. “The other thing I did was to spend hours and hours in children’s books
All these powerful memories encourage Hillenbrand to consider the viewpoint of a child profoundly as he begins an illustration project. He tries to put aside adult experience and think about how a child would receive the story and visualize its content. He compares this process to a story from artist Robert Henri’s book, The Art Spirit in which Henri talks about
■ Ruth K. Meyer is an art historian who lives on the banks of the Ohio River.
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