more about Will Hillenbrand

I want to tell you about my childhood, family, and interests. 


I'm the youngest of four boys and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. My mom, Alice, was a stay-at-home mom, and my Dad was a barber.


My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. 


My favorite sport is baseball. I played baseball in the backyard with my brothers, hour after hour. We also played on the same organized team.


I also enjoyed playing football. 


I love all four seasons, but my favorite is winter. An overnight snow shower can paint the whole landscape white, changing it like magic. Then, I would make a big snowman. 


A block and a half away from my home was my second home: the public library. I met many new friends there, and they told me their stories. So I kept coming back for more and more and more. I fell in love with art on books at the library. 


I have one son, and his name is Ian. Ian is a geologist at The United States Geological Survey in Denver, Colorado (soon to have his Ph.D.). I've known my wife almost my entire life. We both fell in love with books together and have been in love with books and each other ever since.

My Journey to Become a Writer/Illustrator

My mom said I was born with a pencil in my hand because as soon as I could hold a pencil, I started to draw. I'm still drawing. 


Most of my early years in education were spent at St. Clare Elementary School. We didn't have an art room at school. Our regular desk was our art space, and the art materials were brought to us on a cart. 


I had my first art teacher at Aiken Senior High School. Mr. Ertel taught me all about art. I am an artist today because of him.

 

After high school, I went to the Art Academy of Cincinnati. There I made new friends, artists like me.


After graduating, I continued my education at The Ohio State University, where I met Dr. Ken Marantz. Ken was the person who connected me to the picture book world, and he gave me the wings to fly into the stories. Dr. Marantz and I became lifelong friends. I was the Illustrator and Author in Residence at Kent State University (2017-19) and the Art Academy of Cincinnati (2019-20).

About My Work: Kids’ Reactions to My Books

I treasure meeting my readers. I think young people and I have the same ideas about how we love the picture world in a story. 

Books and stories enlighten us. They illuminate the pages and our minds, and grow our imaginations.

About My Work: My Books and Artistic Process

It’s a lot of hard work to make a book. I even kissed a cow to see what it would be like because that’s what my main character did. 


Illustrating a book is its own journey… whether I am drawing little piggies who eat roast beef or piggies having none. There’s always a lot of thinking and planning that goes into picture-making. 


I love illustrating books because they can take me forward or backward in time, even sideways. I get a chance to meet new characters. I also get to befriend the authors of the books I illustrate. 


I love doing pencil sketches to plan a book. I draw them over and over again until I can finally see a character come to life right in front of me.

Three Things You Didn’t Know about Me

1

You might not have known that I draw every day. Every day I draw because it makes me happy. Did you know that? You might have known that.

2

My favorite fruit is blueberries from Maine, Michigan and Ohio. I think they might make me blue inside.

3

You may not have known that I have a learning disability. I’m dyslexic. Reading was difficult for me as a child and in a way it still is. But it didn’t hold me back from my dreams. In fact, I think in a way it helped me.
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