american people Famous Illustrators from the United States

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List of notable or famous illustrators from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top illustrators born in the United States and even some popular illustrators who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American illustrators then this list is the perfect resource for you. These illustrators are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known illustrator from the United States is included when available.

Examples of people on this list: Andy Warhol, Dav Pilkey and more.

This historic illustrators from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American illustrators of note?" and "Who are the most famous illustrators from the United States?" These prominent illustrators of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American illustrators.

Use this list of renowned American illustrators to discover some new illustrators that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. (269 items)

1

Andy Warhol Died at 59 (1928-1987) Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and ...more

2

Shepard Fairey age 48 Shepard Fairey is a skateboarder, graphic artist and illustrator.

3

Bill Mauldin Died at 82 (1921-2003) Bill Maudlin was an illustrator.

4

Maurice Sendak Died at 84 (1928-2012) Maurice Sendak was a writer, illustrator, TV and film producer.

5

Edward Gorey Died at 75 (1925-2000) Edward St. John Gorey was an American writer and artist noted for his illustrated books. His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in Victorian and ...more

6

Dav Pilkey age 52 David Murray "Dav" Pilkey Jr. is a popular American author and illustrator of children's literature. Pilkey is best known as the author and illustrator of the Captain Underpants book ...more

7

Jean Marzollo age 76 Jean Marzollo is a children's author and illustrator. Born in 1942, she has written over 100 books, including the best-selling, award-winning I SPY series for children, written completely in ...more

8

Sam Kieth age 55 Sam Kieth is an American comic book writer and illustrator, best known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl.

9

Richard Scarry Died at 75 (1919-1994) Richard McClure Scarry was a popular American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million units worldwide.

10

Marc Brown age 72 Marc Tolon Brown is an American author and illustrator of children's books. Brown writes as well as illustrates the Arthur book series, and is best known for creating that series and its ...more

11

Berkeley Breathed age 60 Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed is an American cartoonist, children's book author/illustrator, director and screenwriter, best known for Bloom County, a 1980s cartoon-comic strip that ...more

12

David M. Carroll age 76 David M. Carroll is an American naturalist, author and illustrator. He has investigated for the endangered species programs of New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, the Environmental Protection Agency, ...more

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13

Andy Luckey age 52 Andrew A. Luckey is an American writer, director and producer, primarily of animated works. He also writes and illustrates children's books and Bible studies. Luckey has produced over 300 hours ...more

14

Paul Coker age 89 Paul Coker is an American illustrator. He has worked in many media, including Mad, character design for Rankin-Bass TV specials such as Frosty the Snowman, and advertising. Coker's first ...more

15

Gary Baseman age 57 Gary Baseman is a film producer and a screenwriter

16

Bill Peet Died at 87 (1915-2002) Bill Peet, was an American children's book illustrator and a story writer for Disney Studios. He joined Disney in 1937 and worked first on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs near the end of its ...more

17

Gary Panter age 67 Gary Panter is an illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of Arcade: The ...more

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18

Ed Emshwiller Died at 65 (1925-1990) Edmund Alexander Emshwiller, better known as Ed Emshwiller, was an American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed ...more

19

Tomie dePaola age 83 Thomas Anthony dePaola, is an American writer and illustrator who has created more than 200 children's books, and is known best for picture books such as Strega Nona. He received the Laura ...more

20

Mo Willems age 50 Mo Willems is an American writer, animator, and creator of children's books.

21

Glen Keane age 63 Glen Keane is an American animator, author and illustrator. Keane is best known for his character animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios for feature films including The Little Mermaid, ...more

22

Chris Van Allsburg age 68 Chris Van Allsburg is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for Jumanji and The Polar Express, both of which ...more

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23

Eric Carle age 88 Eric Carle is a screenwriter.

24

Don Freeman Died at 70 (1908-1978) Don Freeman was an American painter, printmaker, cartoonist, and an illustrator and writer of children's books.

25

Arnold Lobel Died at 54 (1933-1987) Arnold Stark Lobel was an American author of children's books, including the Frog and Toad series and Mouse Soup. He both wrote and illustrated those picture books, as well as Fables for which ...more

26

Steve Purcell age 57 Steven Ross Purcell is an American cartoonist, animator, director and game designer. He is most widely known as the creator of Sam & Max, an independent comic book series about a pair of ...more

27

James Marshall Died at 50 (1942-1992) James Edward Marshall was an American illustrator and writer of children's books, probably best known for the George and Martha series of picture books. He illustrated books exclusively as James ...more

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28

James Montgomery Flagg Died at 83 (1877-1960) James Montgomery Flagg was an American artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters.

29

Joyce Carol Thomas age 79 Joyce Carol Thomas is an African-American poet, playwright, motivational speaker, and author of more than 30 children's books.

30

Wanda Gág Died at 53 (1893-1946) Wanda Hazel Gág was an American artist, author, translator, and illustrator. She is most noted for writing and illustrating the children's book Millions of Cats which won a Newbery Honor ...more

31

David Macaulay age 71 David Macaulay is a British-born American illustrator and writer. His most famous works include Cathedral, The Way Things Work and The New Way Things Work. His illustrations have been featured ...more

32

Laurie Rosenwald age 63 Laurie Rosenwald is an American illustrator, author, artist, and designer. A New York City native, she graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Painting in 1977. She has ...more

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33

Billy Martin age 36 William Dean "Billy" Martin is an American musician best known as the guitarist and keyboardist of the pop punk band Good Charlotte.

34

Ellen Raskin Died at 56 (1928-1984) Ellen Ermingard Raskin was an American writer and illustrator. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up during the Great Depression. She was educated at the University of ...more

35

Phil Henderson age 50 Phil Henderson, aka Philip Lewis or P. Lewis is an American novelist, illustrator, essayist, and poet. His literary work is known for its relentless, caustic satire of contemporary American ...more

36

William Joyce age 60 William Edward "Bill" Joyce is an American writer, illustrator, and filmmaker. His illustrations appeared on numerous New Yorker covers and his paintings are displayed at museums and ...more

37

Art Adams age 54 Arthur "Art" Adams is an American comic book artist and writer. He first broke into the American comic book industry with the 1985 Marvel Comics miniseries Longshot. His subsequent ...more

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38

Peggy Bacon Died at 92 (1895-1987) Margaret Frances "Peggy" Bacon was an American printmaker, illustrator, painter and writer. Bacon was known for her humorous and ironic etchings and drawings, as well as for her ...more

39

Aliki Brandenberg age 88 Aliki Liacouras Brandenberg is an American author and illustrator of books for children. Brandenberg was born in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, to James Peter and Stella Liacouras. Her parents, who ...more

40

Doug Drexler age 65 Doug Drexler is a visual effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and a makeup artist who has collaborated with such talents as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Meryl Streep, and ...more

41

Maxfield Parrish Died at 96 (1870-1966) Maxfield Parrish was an American painter and illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery.

42

Maira Kalman age 69 Maira Kalman is an American illustrator, writer, artist, and designer. Her work most widely held in WorldCat libraries is Fireboat: the heroic adventures of the John J. Harvey, a picture book ...more

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43

Art Young Died at 77 (1866-1943) Arthur Henry "Art" Young was an American cartoonist and writer. He is most famous for his socialist cartoons, especially those drawn for the left wing political magazine The Masses ...more

44

Jane Frank Died at 68 (1918-1986) Jane Schenthal Frank was an American artist. She studied with Hans Hofmann and Norman Carlberg and is known as a painter, sculptor, mixed media artist, and textile artist. Her landscape-like, ...more

45

Russell Patterson Died at 84 (1893-1977) Russell Patterson was a celebrated and prolific American cartoonist, illustrator and scenic designer. Patterson’s art deco magazine illustrations helped develop and promote the idea of the 1920s ...more

46

Laura Numeroff age 64 Laura Joffe Numeroff is an American author and illustrator of children's books who is best known as the author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

47

Elizabeth Enright Died at 59 (1909-1968) Elizabeth Enright, was an American writer of children's books, an illustrator, writer of short stories for adults, literary critic and teacher of creative writing. Perhaps best known as the ...more

48

Wayne Barlowe age 60 Wayne Douglas Barlowe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and painter. He has painted over 300 book and magazine covers and illustrations for many major book publishers, as well as ...more

49

Barbara Cooney Died at 83 (1917-2000) Barbara Cooney was an American writer and illustrator of more than 200 children's books, published over sixty years. She won two Caldecott Medals, which are awarded to the year's ...more

50

Eric Drooker age 60 Eric Drooker is an American painter, graphic novelist, and frequent cover artist for The New Yorker. He conceived and designed the animation for the film Howl. Drooker grew up in Manhattan's ...more

1 Andy Warhol Died at 59 (1928-1987) Andy Warhol was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and ...more

2 Shepard Fairey age 48 Shepard Fairey is a skateboarder, graphic artist and illustrator.

3 Bill Mauldin Died at 82 (1921-2003) Bill Maudlin was an illustrator.

4 Maurice Sendak Died at 84 (1928-2012) Maurice Sendak was a writer, illustrator, TV and film producer.

5 Edward Gorey Died at 75 (1925-2000) Edward St. John Gorey was an American writer and artist noted for his illustrated books. His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in Victorian and ...more

6 Dav Pilkey age 52 David Murray "Dav" Pilkey Jr. is a popular American author and illustrator of children's literature. Pilkey is best known as the author and illustrator of the Captain Underpants book ...more

7 Jean Marzollo age 76 Jean Marzollo is a children's author and illustrator. Born in 1942, she has written over 100 books, including the best-selling, award-winning I SPY series for children, written completely in ...more

8 Sam Kieth age 55 Sam Kieth is an American comic book writer and illustrator, best known as the creator of The Maxx and Zero Girl.

9 Richard Scarry Died at 75 (1919-1994) Richard McClure Scarry was a popular American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million units worldwide.

10 Marc Brown age 72 Marc Tolon Brown is an American author and illustrator of children's books. Brown writes as well as illustrates the Arthur book series, and is best known for creating that series and its ...more

11 Berkeley Breathed age 60 Guy Berkeley "Berke" Breathed is an American cartoonist, children's book author/illustrator, director and screenwriter, best known for Bloom County, a 1980s cartoon-comic strip that ...more

12 David M. Carroll age 76 David M. Carroll is an American naturalist, author and illustrator. He has investigated for the endangered species programs of New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, the Environmental Protection Agency, ...more

13 Andy Luckey age 52 Andrew A. Luckey is an American writer, director and producer, primarily of animated works. He also writes and illustrates children's books and Bible studies. Luckey has produced over 300 hours ...more

14 Paul Coker age 89 Paul Coker is an American illustrator. He has worked in many media, including Mad, character design for Rankin-Bass TV specials such as Frosty the Snowman, and advertising. Coker's first ...more

15 Gary Baseman age 57 Gary Baseman is a film producer and a screenwriter

16 Bill Peet Died at 87 (1915-2002) Bill Peet, was an American children's book illustrator and a story writer for Disney Studios. He joined Disney in 1937 and worked first on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs near the end of its ...more

17 Gary Panter age 67 Gary Panter is an illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of Arcade: The ...more

18 Ed Emshwiller Died at 65 (1925-1990) Edmund Alexander Emshwiller, better known as Ed Emshwiller, was an American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed ...more

19 Tomie dePaola age 83 Thomas Anthony dePaola, is an American writer and illustrator who has created more than 200 children's books, and is known best for picture books such as Strega Nona. He received the Laura ...more

20 Mo Willems age 50 Mo Willems is an American writer, animator, and creator of children's books.

21 Glen Keane age 63 Glen Keane is an American animator, author and illustrator. Keane is best known for his character animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios for feature films including The Little Mermaid, ...more

22 Chris Van Allsburg age 68 Chris Van Allsburg is an American illustrator and writer of children's books. He has won two Caldecott Medals for U.S. picture book illustration, for Jumanji and The Polar Express, both of which ...more

23 Eric Carle age 88 Eric Carle is a screenwriter.

24 Don Freeman Died at 70 (1908-1978) Don Freeman was an American painter, printmaker, cartoonist, and an illustrator and writer of children's books.

25 Arnold Lobel Died at 54 (1933-1987) Arnold Stark Lobel was an American author of children's books, including the Frog and Toad series and Mouse Soup. He both wrote and illustrated those picture books, as well as Fables for which ...more

26 Steve Purcell age 57 Steven Ross Purcell is an American cartoonist, animator, director and game designer. He is most widely known as the creator of Sam & Max, an independent comic book series about a pair of ...more

27 James Marshall Died at 50 (1942-1992) James Edward Marshall was an American illustrator and writer of children's books, probably best known for the George and Martha series of picture books. He illustrated books exclusively as James ...more

28 James Montgomery Flagg Died at 83 (1877-1960) James Montgomery Flagg was an American artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters.

29 Joyce Carol Thomas age 79 Joyce Carol Thomas is an African-American poet, playwright, motivational speaker, and author of more than 30 children's books.

30 Wanda Gág Died at 53 (1893-1946) Wanda Hazel Gág was an American artist, author, translator, and illustrator. She is most noted for writing and illustrating the children's book Millions of Cats which won a Newbery Honor ...more

31 David Macaulay age 71 David Macaulay is a British-born American illustrator and writer. His most famous works include Cathedral, The Way Things Work and The New Way Things Work. His illustrations have been featured ...more

32 Laurie Rosenwald age 63 Laurie Rosenwald is an American illustrator, author, artist, and designer. A New York City native, she graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in Painting in 1977. She has ...more

33 Billy Martin age 36 William Dean "Billy" Martin is an American musician best known as the guitarist and keyboardist of the pop punk band Good Charlotte.

34 Ellen Raskin Died at 56 (1928-1984) Ellen Ermingard Raskin was an American writer and illustrator. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up during the Great Depression. She was educated at the University of ...more

35 Phil Henderson age 50 Phil Henderson, aka Philip Lewis or P. Lewis is an American novelist, illustrator, essayist, and poet. His literary work is known for its relentless, caustic satire of contemporary American ...more

36 William Joyce age 60 William Edward "Bill" Joyce is an American writer, illustrator, and filmmaker. His illustrations appeared on numerous New Yorker covers and his paintings are displayed at museums and ...more

37 Art Adams age 54 Arthur "Art" Adams is an American comic book artist and writer. He first broke into the American comic book industry with the 1985 Marvel Comics miniseries Longshot. His subsequent ...more

38 Peggy Bacon Died at 92 (1895-1987) Margaret Frances "Peggy" Bacon was an American printmaker, illustrator, painter and writer. Bacon was known for her humorous and ironic etchings and drawings, as well as for her ...more

39 Aliki Brandenberg age 88 Aliki Liacouras Brandenberg is an American author and illustrator of books for children. Brandenberg was born in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, to James Peter and Stella Liacouras. Her parents, who ...more

40 Doug Drexler age 65 Doug Drexler is a visual effects artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, and a makeup artist who has collaborated with such talents as Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, James Caan, Meryl Streep, and ...more

41 Maxfield Parrish Died at 96 (1870-1966) Maxfield Parrish was an American painter and illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery.

42 Maira Kalman age 69 Maira Kalman is an American illustrator, writer, artist, and designer. Her work most widely held in WorldCat libraries is Fireboat: the heroic adventures of the John J. Harvey, a picture book ...more

43 Art Young Died at 77 (1866-1943) Arthur Henry "Art" Young was an American cartoonist and writer. He is most famous for his socialist cartoons, especially those drawn for the left wing political magazine The Masses ...more

44 Jane Frank Died at 68 (1918-1986) Jane Schenthal Frank was an American artist. She studied with Hans Hofmann and Norman Carlberg and is known as a painter, sculptor, mixed media artist, and textile artist. Her landscape-like, ...more

45 Russell Patterson Died at 84 (1893-1977) Russell Patterson was a celebrated and prolific American cartoonist, illustrator and scenic designer. Patterson’s art deco magazine illustrations helped develop and promote the idea of the 1920s ...more

46 Laura Numeroff age 64 Laura Joffe Numeroff is an American author and illustrator of children's books who is best known as the author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

47 Elizabeth Enright Died at 59 (1909-1968) Elizabeth Enright, was an American writer of children's books, an illustrator, writer of short stories for adults, literary critic and teacher of creative writing. Perhaps best known as the ...more

48 Wayne Barlowe age 60 Wayne Douglas Barlowe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and painter. He has painted over 300 book and magazine covers and illustrations for many major book publishers, as well as ...more

49 Barbara Cooney Died at 83 (1917-2000) Barbara Cooney was an American writer and illustrator of more than 200 children's books, published over sixty years. She won two Caldecott Medals, which are awarded to the year's ...more

50 Eric Drooker age 60 Eric Drooker is an American painter, graphic novelist, and frequent cover artist for The New Yorker. He conceived and designed the animation for the film Howl. Drooker grew up in Manhattan's ...more