I’ve been an artist all my life, and started heading into illustration before getting out of  elementary school. I was drawing dinosaurs, animals and people for classmates, concert programs and literary magazines. My hometown newspapers, The Kansas City Star and The Kansas City Times miraculously arrived every day with new illustrations, comics and political cartoons. Inspired, I started working for the high school newspaper, and began drawing political cartoons for the hometown paper by the age of 16.

The support of my parents and a few very valuable years at the University of Kansas took me further into illustration, and the idea of illustrating something permanent. The late Thomas B. Allen and his frequently-invited illustrator friends, combined with a lot of ink, pencil and paint edged me deeper into mediums that challenged me to each next level.

But the newspaper's promise of a space to illustrate – not to mention a steady job – kept me in the business through more than two decades of college, grad school, teaching and fatherhood. I currently work with ESL kids and other K-12 children in the public schools.

My experience in print media and children propelled me into children’s illustration. My hope is that the books I illustrate can teach and entertain children, their parents and their teachers for years to come. I thoroughly enjoy getting into classrooms and helping children learn what they need to discover and develop their own creativity.

My friends at  WendyLynn & Co. represent me to the publishing industry. A selection of my work also appears at childrensillustrators.com.

If my work interests you, or if you have any questions, drop me a note at lonericcraven@hotmail.com.