Articles: Authors and Illustrators: Eric Carle
It was more than 70 books ago that commercial artist Eric Carle was first approached by writer Bill Martin, Jr. to illustrate the now famous children’s picture book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?. Now approaching 80 years old, Mr. Carle says he has entered semi-retirement. He makes fewer public appearances and leaves most of the business aspects of his work to others. Fortunately for his fans, he continues to create children’s picture books.
Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, New York to German parents. At the age of 6, his family returned to Germany, where he was raised during the rise and fall of the Nazi regime. Later in life, ideas for his books would come from his childhood explorations of nature with his father in Germany. Mr. Carle returned to the US when he was 22 years old to begin work as a graphic artist for the New York Times. Later he was the art director for an advertising agency. It was there that Mr. Carle created a now characteristic rendition of a lobster that appeared in an advertisement and caught the attention of writer Bill Martin, Jr.
Mr. Carle’s distinctive collage style is based on a simple process: painting acrylics onto plain tissue paper, cutting the tissue paper into shapes, and carefully assembling those delicate pieces to create the final image. Between artwork and writing, his picture books can take from one week to two years to complete.
In 2002, Eric Carle and his wife, Barbara, founded the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts, which honors art from a wide range of children’s picture books.
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