Michelle Munger

I never really considered that the people who wrote the books that I read as a child were actually real. I thought that they may have existed long ago, but since they were long gone, no new books would ever be written. They would just keep recycling the same ones over and over, or they would hire a group of people to do nothing but write stories and artists to illustrate them. Then I began to see the names. My favorites had always been Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Jan and Mike Berenstain, and especially Gustaf Tengren for his wonderful art.

I began to appreciate that they were people who wrote the simple, yet powerfully put stories from all over the world, and those who drew the colorful illustrations for them. I began to see that maybe, just maybe I might be able to do the same.

What started out as merely a hobby to some people, turned into a passion for me. I loved to write, and I especially loved to paint. I worked hard, cultivating my craft every chance I could get, with every spare moment I could squeeze out of my busy day. I scribbled in countless notebooks, and had hundreds of files tucked away into the recesses of my computer memory, just waiting for me to finally click on them to begin the story.

Success begins with simple things, though. A simple phrase, a simple illustration, but the grand thing about success is that it can grow from a simple flake of snow to become the snow pack that sits on the highest mountains to make them that much taller.

As a digital artist, I can work in any style imaginable, and sometimes do. I am not inhibited by paint that dries to fast, or too slow. I'm not scared to put that first mark on a clean digital canvas. I see each and every illustration I do as a work of art in and of itself. Because to me, they are. I hope they are to you as well.