Loretta Lombardy has worked as a commercial and fine artist. She started her career as a children's fashion illustrator in New York. Most of her fine art oil paintings are of animals, both real and mythical.

Dedicated to conservation, many of her animals are endangered species. She has photographed wildlife both here and in East Africa. More recently Loretta worked as a photo stylist for Harcourt Brace Book Publishers where she created children's art for school textbooks. Her love for children and animals is always apparent in her artwork.

Loretta's two children grew up beside her with their own drawing tables and art supplies, and are now also professional artists. Today Loretta lives in a secluded mountain home with her husband Joe and two big dogs surrounded by national forest land, a life long dream to live in the woods with nature and animals and to paint and draw, both on canvas and with her computer.

Raised in Elmhurst Illinois, Bob earned a degree in Advertising and Design from The American Academy of Arts in 1975. While studying at the Academy, he discovered watercolor as a medium and studied under Irvine Shapiro, an AWS member and at the time, Director of the Academy.

In 1978, he relocated to Seattle and accepted a job as a Pictorial Sign Artist for Ackerley Outdoor Advertising. During his fifteen-year tenure there, he mastered the art of billboard painting and in the evenings, continued his work as a watercolor artist. Bob was awarded two ADDY Awards for "Merit for Outstanding Achievement in Advertising" for his billboard work for Alaska Airlines and Nike.

His passion for drawing, painting and cartooning gave him the idea to pursue a company called "Trucktoons" Unlimited where he has fun drawing caricatures of people in their favorite vehicles. In 2002, he will be publishing his first coloring book for kids, filled with his cartoon creations. He lives by his motto, "Living with our passion allows us to achieve our goals." Bob is a member of the PSNWP-Puget Sound Northwest Painters, which is the second oldest active Art Guild in the country.

Ron Bomba grew up in New York City. After graduating art school, he served three years in the military before starting a career in graphic arts. His specialties include product design, illustration and photography.

An avid outdoorsman, Ron spent most of his free time skiing, mountain climbing, sailing and scuba diving. After a yearlong search for a place where these activities are close by, Ron settled in Seattle Washington. Before leaving the East Coast, Ron frequented the beautiful coral reefs in the Florida Keys. It was there that he became familiar with the unique marine life native to the area and throughout the Caribbean. Diving adventures include the Virgin Islands, Honduras, Hawaii, and the clear cold waters of the Pacific Northwest.

In addition to his commercial work, Ron's fine art paintings include realistic portraits of the marine life he knows so well. He continues to add to this collection and sells them as collector prints.

Ron's portfolio can be viewed at: www.ronbombastudio.com.

Todd has been a professional illustrator and designer for 18 years and has a broad range of clients, worldwide. His work includes graphic design, art direction, publishing and illustration in virtually all media, as well as numerous software applications (with which he created the images in this collection). Todd has taught illustration studio classes at Cornish College of the Arts since 1992.

In creating his engaging environments, Todd draws upon his own interest and passion for classical children's book illustration, foreign travel, his love of historical objects, and the outdoors. An artist who likes to invite the viewer into worlds where they can imagine every character, every twist and turn around them and get lost (in the best possible way) in their surroundings, it is his heartfelt wish that his images create an environment where a child's imagination can take flight.

You can learn more about Todd at: www.jaznjaz.com.

A native New Yorker, Lisa has worked professionally in the entertainment industry as a Scenic Designer, Scenic Artist, and Puppet Designer/Builder, since 1980. She has worked on several feature films, and many television commercials. She constructed props for numerous Broadway shows, including Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables. While in New York, Lisa designed and built puppets for the Hudson Vagabond Puppets, built Muppets for Henson Associates, and worked in children's theater. She worked on the Hasbro Toys buyer's showroom in New York for four seasons, and was staff scenic artist at Tromploy, Inc., painting murals and faux finishes.

After moving to Seattle in 1991, Lisa was staff Scenic Charge at Dillon Works! Inc., and Propwerks Inc., and worked for Smash Design, the Museum of History & Industry, and Village Theatre, to name a few.

Lisa has a BFA in Scenic Design from S.U.N.Y. College at Purchase, an MFA in Scenic Painting from the Polakov Studio of Stage Design, and a Certificate in Multimedia from the UW Extension. She is currently President of the SPGA/Seattle Chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, a member of United Scenic Artists 829, IATSE 488, The Association of Theatrical Artists and Craftspeople.

Her illustrations can be seen at: www.s2do.com

Leslie Newman lives in Seattle, Washington with her artist husband, Tim Celeski, and an Abyssinian cat named Jetson. A native of Seattle, she attended art school and by 1987, she opened her own graphic design and illustration business.

Her artwork is inspired by nature, people watching and her love of old Warner Brothers' cartoons. Focusing on shape, color and movement, Leslie tries to create a fantasy world where the eye can travel and discover delightful details. She hopes her artwork for children will spark creativity and imagination.

Her work can be seen at: www.newmandi.com.

Julie Paschkis is a painter and illustrator who lives in Seattle, Washington. Her paintings have been exhibited throughout the Northwest, most recently at the Davidson Gallery in Seattle. She has illustrated many children's books, including "Head, Body, Legs" by Paye and Lippert, "Happy Adoption Day!" by John McCutcheon, and "Night Garden: Poems from the World of Dreams" by Janet Wong. "Night Garden" was chosen by the NY Times as one of the Ten Best Illustrated Books of 2000. You can see Julie's work at: www.altpick.com/juliepaschkis.

Janet Lord is a graphic designer who lives in Pennsylvania. She and her sister, artist Julie Paschkis, often drew and painted together when they were young. As adults, they renewed their artistic partnership. Janet's skill in computer graphics and high tech applications allows her to create and adapt art for the computer. For Stella Color, Janet transformed an ink drawing of Julie's into vectored, layered artwork.

Ellen Forney has been drawing since she could pick up a crayon and has been a professional cartoonist/ illustrator since 1992. Ellen has created comics and illustrations for Nickelodeon Magazine, DC Comics, Oxygen.com, and Slate Magazine, and currently draws a monthly full-page comic called, "How D'ya Do That?" for Seattle's weekly alternative newspaper, The Stranger.

She also freelances for a wide variety of publications and projects and has taught comics classes and workshops for kids and adults. Ellen is also the creator of a weekly comic strip called, "I Was Seven in '75," about her family and her experiences growing up. One of her favorite strips is about the fantasy bedroom designs she'd dream up when she was a child.

Ellen grew up in Philadelphia and moved to Seattle in 1989 where she enjoys swimming in Lake Washington in the summertime. She loves to send drawings to her niece and nephew, who live in Beijing, China. Contact Ellen at ellenforney@ellenforney.com.

Mark Monlux has been drawing for children since he was a child himself. His work as an artist began on the school playground where he fulfilled his classmates' requests by drawing cars, flying saucers, animals and mythical creatures. This led into an early career in mural painting and by the age of twelve, Mark was in such demand he had to print up businesses cards that read "Mark's Murals and Sculpture."

While still in Junior High, he had won the National Children's Safety award as well as recognition from numerous art shows. He graduated college with a degree in Graphic Art and his first job was drawing a children's book of monsters hiding under the bed.

Each year, Mark completes projects that include books or toy products for children. His style has been described as lighthearted and whimsical, with just a touch of the odd that appeals to both children and adults.