Pamela R. Levy
illustrator
The first book I ever illustrated. It's by my sister, Diane Levy, who is now a graphic designer.
I
grew up drawing everywhere, including on shirt cardboards and the hall wallpaper. I've always held my pencil the way you see it in that picture. My other fun was reading, making crafts, or dancing, and I was a kid who really did like school. We lived in Connecticut during the school year and then in Mississippi all summer.
In high school and then at Vanderbilt, my first college, I was always looking for extra ways to make art. I happily finished my majors in math and art history, but it was becoming clear to me that what I really wanted to do was draw. So back to school I went for an illustration degree at RISD.
Being an illustrator suits me perfectly -- I love the variety of projects I get, the research, the creation of new characters, the drawing and painting, the 'happy accident', the whole thing.
Today I live near Boston with my husband, still drawing, reading and dancing, and I still hold my pencil wrong. Now, between deadlines, I also grub around in my garden until it's too dark to see my own hands.
❈
Additional children's artwork is on the SCBWI website here, and some of my work for adults can be found on the Graphic Artists Guild site here and on LinkedIn here.
You can find my Graphic Artists Guild webinar "Ask An Illustrator: An Artist Navigates the Publishing Business" here. or view "Ask a Pro: Business Basics for Artists", which I co-hosted with two colleagues, here.