“Sometimes I’ll suggest a cover concept; sometimes my editor or art director will get the ball rolling. For Baby Dragon ( Candlewick Press, 2008) I submitted sketches for the cover. Because the title character Louie (Philomel Books, 2009) loves splashing paint around, I put him on a clean white background. I scanned a paper grocery store bag for Louie’s skin.”

Hillenbrand’s lively woodland animals contend with evil spirits to the amazement of the People, dressed in skins and woven fibers, who marvel at the Coyote’s genius of fire. Hillenbrand created the final art with Winsor & Newton oils on Strathmore bristol vellum. The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story (Holiday House, 1999), written by Rebecca Hickox, sets this familiar tale in a pastel-hued desert community. The sketches and paintings were done on vellum, using mixed media—including egg tempera—to obtain a matte surface that still has a translucent quality.

Important to Hillenbrand’s art are his frequent contacts with his audience, which includes young readers, their parents and teachers. In addition to making appearances at schools, fairs and libraries, he encourages young artists by providing resources like his Starting from Sketch: Inside the Picture Book with Hillenbrand that can be downloaded from his website for classroom use. While Hillenbrand is quite adept at illustrating picture books for early childhood readers, adults will enjoy how he works with the world’s mythol-ogies and legends. Texts are supplied by a variety of authors, and each project entails research on Hillenbrand’s part in order to bring authenticity to the visual experience. For The Treasure Chest: A Chinese Tale written by Rosalind C. Wang (Holiday House, 1995) (see page 41), the artist studied southern Sung dynasty paintings (c. 1200) and found inspiration there for the misty mountains, pagoda-roofed villages and Asian characters who tell the enchanting story. As sophisticated and varied as his illustrations are, Hillenbrand remains in touch with his audience. Whenever he’s working on a book, he keeps a journal of sketches; tucked inside each journal is a drawing by a child “to remind me that a child’s imagination is the starting and ending point of my art.”

Ian Hillenbrand

Meet Will Hillenbrand

Hillenbrand’s early pictures still decorate the walls of his mother’s house: “I drew mostly at the kitchen table, but also used my crayons on stairwell walls.” He studied studio art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, then worked in advertising before landing his first contract for Traveling to Tondo, which won the American Library Association’s Notable Book citation. He has since illustrated more than 45 books, many of which have garnered awards, such as the IRA Children’s Choice award. The Society of Illustrators awarded him a Gold Medal in 1990. Among his most recent releases are Cock-a-Doodle Christmas ( Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books, 2007), which he wrote as well as illustrated, and three books for which he provided the illustrations: Whopper Cake by Karma Wilson (Margaret K. Elderry, 2006); The Moon Might be Milk by Lisa Shulman (Dutton Juvenile, 2007) and Calendar ( Holiday House, 2007) by Myra Cohn Livingston. His website, www.willhillenbrand.com, is replete with fascinating descriptions of his processes, plus numerous, download-able resources for teachers and young artists.

November 2008 ■ www.artistsmagazine.com