Acclaimed children’s illustrator Jerry Pinkney was born on December 22nd, 1939. He was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during World War II.
Closer to home, he dealt with segregation due to Jim Crow laws. At school, Pinkney could not read because he struggled with dyslexia. Luckily, at four years old, he picked up drawing. Pinkney thrived in school by using his wit and observing pictorial details.
Working at a newsstand, he copied characters from comic strips and photographs. Eventually, Pinkney inked a cartoon character of his own.
Excelling in art, he graduated from Murrill Dobbins Vocational School with a specialty in graphic design. Pinkney showed such promise as a designer, he received a full scholarship from the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts).
Two years into college, he married a classmate and started a family. Shortly thereafter, Pinkney accepted a position at a greeting card company in Dedham, Massachusetts.
When Jerry Pinkney was asked about his process for analyzing a manuscript the artist acknowledged
I am a storyteller at heart.
So each project begins with the question, ‘Is this story worth telling?
Is the manuscript an interesting read?
Is it surprising and challenging?
Will I, in the process of making pictures, learn something new?’
Pinkney continued
When these questions are answered, I then open up to letting the text speak to me.
My work is text-inspired.
He explained that upon further examination of the style in which a story came to be, the language offered clues and provided direction. Pinkney’s preferred method for manuscript enhancement was executed to perfection. His introductory thumbnail sketches proceeded Pinkney’s large, more precise developmental renderings.
After which, Pinkney would define his renderings with a realistic correlation between text and art. He did not believe in altering his impressions for children. Rather, Pinkney theorized about his premise that there is no separation between the way an artist creates images for children and the way the artist sees the world. Similarly, he concurred
imagination influences the way you see the world…
I illustrate stories,
not as I imagine a child sees them,
but how I see them.
Jerry Pinkney was an extraordinary watercolor artist and author. He became the first solo African-American to win the prestigious 2010 Caldecott Medal for The Lion and The Mouse picture book illustration. The artist also accepted five Caldecott Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, four Coretta Scott King Honors, five New York Times Best Illustrated Awards, and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
In conclusion, Pinkney summarized
“I have illustrated over a hundred children’s books.
The most favorite is always the work in progress on the drawing board because my strongest feelings about a particular book are tied to the experience of creating it.
I love the act of making marks on paper and seeing those marks develop into a picture.
My intent and hope is to lead the viewer into a world that only exists because of that picture.
Many of these speak to my culture, while other works are based on my experience of being Black in America.”
Jerry Pinkney passed away on October 20, 2021, at the age of 81. His masterful watercolor and pen and pencil illustrations will enlighten readers and artists in the years to come.
