The Full Story
"That was Then, This is Next"
by Erick Ingraham
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I was a fan of realism since my boyhood days enjoying the book illustration work of Robert McCloskey and Robert Lawson.
My love and appreciation for Art Nouveau, German Jungenstihl, Rennie MacIntosh, The Vienna Secession, and American Arts and Crafts began in college.
It wasn't at all what we were being taught in Art History. I wasn't impressed by Impressionism or Expressionism. Some of the classic geniuses struck a chord: Da Vinci, Degas, and others included Alphonse Mucha and Maxfield Parrish.
It was the end of the sixties and advertising was a big influence at the time. My resistance to it influenced me to transfer from Advertising to Fine Art.
However, I couldn't help being drawn into the art form of food and beverage labels, so I created some fantasy labels with hand-built titles and they became the theme for my senior show.
My journey toward children's books began by way of illustration for how-to books for publishers that included Rodale Press, and MacMillan.
More on this Era. See my Bibliography.
In 1975 I was offered my first children's book, Harry and Shellburt. Right on its heels came the "Henry Book", it turned out to be a perennial favorite and the first
of six Henry the Siamese Cat books. Cross-Country Cat (Morrow 1979) remains in print today after thirty-five years.
Porcupine Stew was my first book for which I was asked to "paint" in color!. Prior to that it was pre-separated by me in overlays. I employed airbrush in this book
and enhanced it with fine brush work. I was awarded for Best Original Art for Books in 1983 and it won a prestigious award in Czechoslovakia that year as well.
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