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:
As author and illustrator:
As author:
Infant/toddler books:
As illustrator only: -
Shoes, by Elizabeth Winthrop
- Humphrey’s Bear, by Joyce Wahl
- William Joyce’s Mother Goose
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)