Judith Caseley's Blog
April 2, 2021
How I Became a Children's Illustrator
In high school art class, I was not one of the best students. I couldn't draw horses. But I loved color and design, and it was my favorite class. But by the time I got to Syracuse University, I had decided to become a writer. Working in the cafeteria to fulfill my scholarship, I had trouble reading all of the literature for my classes. I liked my elective "form and expression" class best, where all of us had to draw sacks of sand. I used color and collage, despite the blandness of the subject, and when the professor held up my work as "original", it was my eureka. I switched my major to art.
It was not smooth sailing.
For one of my classes, we needed to document a "living thing". I bought a plant, the tradescantia zebrina, or wandering jew, and sketched and recorded my thoughts about it. To my dismay, the professor suggested I become a writer, and I was immersed in doubt once more. Where did my talent lie?
In desperation, I created my own independent study, illustrating and writing children's books. I had the wife of a professor critique my work. There were no classes. I got an A, but basically, I taught myself by examining the classics and creating my own Cinderella.
I loved my painting classes, and painted narrative city scenes that reminded the professor of George Grosz, who did caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the twenties. My work was not in style, and I was struggling again.
I did my junior year abroad, and sketched London and Paris street scenes, with forays to Amsterdam. Living in England, I met Roger Caseley, and we stayed in touch when I returned to America.
After graduation, I took my work to a famous editor named Miriam Chaikin at Holt, Reinhart & Winston. She did not hire me. Instead, she bought one of my drawings of the Red Light district in Amsterdam. It gave me hope that I had a glimmer of talent.
Many years later, having moved to London and married Roger Caseley, I started doing greeting cards. After an exhibition of the pictures, Abelard invited me to do a children's book called The Garden of Eden. The publishers went under, along with the book.
In 1984 I met Susan Hirschman, years after Miriam, and she gave me my first contract for Molly Pink. Ava Weiss, the art editor, advised me to learn how to do color separation, and I took a workshop with Uri Shulevitz. The process was tedious, but I was elated and grateful. My journey to write and illustrate children's books had finally begun.
It was not smooth sailing.
For one of my classes, we needed to document a "living thing". I bought a plant, the tradescantia zebrina, or wandering jew, and sketched and recorded my thoughts about it. To my dismay, the professor suggested I become a writer, and I was immersed in doubt once more. Where did my talent lie?
In desperation, I created my own independent study, illustrating and writing children's books. I had the wife of a professor critique my work. There were no classes. I got an A, but basically, I taught myself by examining the classics and creating my own Cinderella.
I loved my painting classes, and painted narrative city scenes that reminded the professor of George Grosz, who did caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the twenties. My work was not in style, and I was struggling again.
I did my junior year abroad, and sketched London and Paris street scenes, with forays to Amsterdam. Living in England, I met Roger Caseley, and we stayed in touch when I returned to America.
After graduation, I took my work to a famous editor named Miriam Chaikin at Holt, Reinhart & Winston. She did not hire me. Instead, she bought one of my drawings of the Red Light district in Amsterdam. It gave me hope that I had a glimmer of talent.
Many years later, having moved to London and married Roger Caseley, I started doing greeting cards. After an exhibition of the pictures, Abelard invited me to do a children's book called The Garden of Eden. The publishers went under, along with the book.
In 1984 I met Susan Hirschman, years after Miriam, and she gave me my first contract for Molly Pink. Ava Weiss, the art editor, advised me to learn how to do color separation, and I took a workshop with Uri Shulevitz. The process was tedious, but I was elated and grateful. My journey to write and illustrate children's books had finally begun.
