Best selling American children’s book author and illustrator whose books combine retro fashion and architecture with slightly warped characters and deadpan texts.
"I do blissful, high adventures where everyone is kind, good, witty, brave, and frightfully well dressed, and where everything works out for the best."
Born in 1957 in Shreveport, Louisiana, his illustration career by way of film school led him to draw for Spy, Entertainment Weekly, and The New Yorker magazine. He also illustrated children’s books, and gained acclaim with Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo. His elegant illustrations often feature jolly, round characters, and shows influences of N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Maurice Sendak, and Beatrix Potter. He also admits a debt to the pop culture of his childhood, notably monster and Tarzan movies, Bugs Bunny cartoons, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth trading cards, Harold Gray’s "Little Orphan Annie," and Mad Magazine. His affinity for and background in film has earned him spots on the design teams for Toy Story, Buddy, Meet the Robinsons, A Bug's Life, and Robots. Notable works: Sources: www.amazon.com
Interview by Alice Cary, Review of The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, by William Joyce, BookPage Online, 30 September 1996, <http://www.bookpage.com/9610bp/childrens/theleafmen.html> (26 December 2001)
Michael Patrick Hearn, "William Joyce," National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature, <http://www.nccil.org/exhibit/joyce01.html> (26 December 2001)
CNN chat transcript, "Author William Joyce talks about his book, 'George Shrinks’," December 29, 2000. <http://www.cnn.com/COMMUNITY/transcripts/2000/9/29/joyce/> (26 December 2001)