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Tom lichtenheld biography

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Tom Lichtenheld Biography

6 minute read

Personal, Addresses, Career, Honors Awards, Writings, Work in Progress, Sidelights

Education: Graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1979. Hobbies and other interests: Bicycling, swimming.

Tom Lichtenheld

Addresses

Office—910 James St., Geneva, IL 60134.

Career

Art director, illustrator, and author. Fallon, Minneapolis, MN, art director, 1984-2001; freelance art director, 2001—. Has taught advertising classes at Miami Advertising School, Minneapolis, MN, and Chicago, IL.

Honors Awards

CLIO Award; Kelly Award finalist; named among Adweek magazine's "Creative All-Stars"; awards from New York Art Directors Club, British Design and Art Direction, Communications Arts Advertising Annual, and One Show; Child magazine best children's book designation, 2003, for What Are You So Grumpy About?

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Everything I Know about Pirates: A Collection of Made-up Facts, Educated Guesses, and Silly Pictures about Bad Guys of the High Seas, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

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About

I make books for children and people who used to be children.

I’ve always loved drawing pictures and making up stories, so I feel very fortunate to have found a job that lets me do both. 

The question I hear most often from readers is “Where do you get your ideas?” I get ideas by keeping my eyes and ears open, especially when I’m around kids. I try to see things as they would and create from their perspective. I create as if I’m just having a fun conversation with a child and I keep in mind that they’re smarter than we think.

For inspiration, I have a bunch of photos of kids on my wall. Whenever I’m stuck for an idea, I look at one of those photographs and think to myself, “What would make that kid laugh?” 

Whether working from a manuscript, collaborating with a writer or writing a book myself, I always start with lots of rough sketches. The final illustrations are often done on colored paper, using ink, watercolor, colored pencil, pastels and whatever else achieves the look I have in mind. I prefer the hands-on tactile experience of traditional art ma

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Tom Lichtenheld Papers

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 Collection

Identifier: CLRC-1974

Scope and Contents

The Tom Lichtenheld Papers collection contains production material pertaining to the production of eleven books and one unpublished work created by Lichtenheld, including: pencil, pastel, and ink sketches, page proofs, artists’ dummies, final line art, editor’s copies, front matter, layout notes, typescripts, andcorrespondence.

Dates

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Open for use in the Elmer L. Andersen Library reading room.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection may be protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials. Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law.

Biographical / Historical

Tom Lichtenheld graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1979. His career began a

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