GET A CLOSER LOOK
Works of Kevin Hawkes, Mark Buehner and many other nationally published children's book illustrators are currently displayed in the exhibit Unbound: Original Picture Book Art by Utah Illustrators at the Springville Museum of Art in Springville, Utah. All the artists in the exhibit have lived in Utah at some point in their lives. The Exhibit runs to December 28, 2008.

AS THEY SIT TOGETHER in the 1985 graduation ceremony at Utah State University, Kevin Hawkes and Mark Buehner do not know that 20 years later they will be famous. Sort of.

You may not know their names, but your local school librarian probably does. Both have illustrated critically acclaimed, best-selling picture books.

Their world offers a lot of anonymity. Hawkes could be the most successful illustrator ever, and still, nobody would know what he looked like. “I sort of like that,” he says.

He also enjoys a job that allows him to illustrate projects like author Michael Ian Black's Chicken Cheeks, a children's book about animal rumps that will be available this month. Make no mistake: publishers of children's books are serious about making money, which can create surreal moments as Hawkes talks business with executives from Simon and Schuster about guinea pig buns and penguin batooties.

Hawkes' love of absurdity shows in his work, while Buehner's illustrations have a gentle, even nurturing humor. In an interview he laughs less and reflects more.

Yes, Buehner (pronounced BEAN-er) says, his work is fun, and his nine kids like his job. “You get to do things that, when you're done, you have something to show for your work.”

Still, some days their job really feels like work. Buehner has days when he pushes paint around a canvas without actually painting. Hawkes stresses getting a project out. But both artists are happy in their careers, and both remember art professionals coming to speak to them at USU, infusing them with the belief that art really could be a day job. It was a revelation for Buehner, who attended another university before he came to USU. There, art professors seemed to question the students' career choice. He was taught that his art would supplement his real job.

At Utah State, under the leadership of now retired Jon Anderson and Glen Edwards, the two children's book illustrators were exposed to a lot of people for whom art is a day job. Anderson was a cheerleader, bringing in illustrators who would inspire students with their success, then sitting down with the students to paint with them, showing them how it's done. One day, a visiting artist looks at Buehner's stylized work and says, “This is where your future lies.” It hurts a little. Buehner wants to be a fine artist.

The students also watch each other. “Mark (Buehner) was always a great painter,” Hawkes says. Buehner admires not only Hawkes's work but the way he “clicks in” to his own personal style.

Edwards expected his students to work at a furious pace. Hawkes churns out one or two paintings a week. “It opened my eyes to a lot. ... Glen did a really good job teaching us to paint and use color.” Over the course of four years, he produces about 200 “really bad” paintings, and finds homes for them all.

A year after graduation in 1985, Hawkes leaves for Boston, while Buehner and his wife, Caralyn, stay in Utah. Buehner works at the family business, saving up for a plunge into the East Coast art world. Neither of them plan on a career in children's books. Buehner had heard there wasn't any money in it. Within a few years, Hawkes is making money doing other illustrations.

After a year selling children's books in a bookstore, Hawkes paints illustrations for magazines at a grueling pace, still less intense than the one he kept as a student. He turns out 75 to 100 paintings a year for business magazines, technical reviews, the Christian Science Monitor, any publisher that needs to communicate visually. He discovers along the way that picture books offer him a lot of creative freedom and long-term satisfaction. He makes the move to picture books at a lucky time; the life of a freelance illustrator is about to get harder as publications begin forming stock houses and stop hiring outside talent.

As a children's book illustrator, he matches his painting to a huge variety of writing styles, producing more than 40 books with a number of different authors. Three of them are written by Hawkes himself. His style varies so widely that it is hard to believe the art was all produced by the same person. My Little Sister Ate One Hare is a counting book that induces almost as many cringes as it does laughs. Hawkes illustrates the rhymes of Bill Grossman with a little sister that is mostly gaping mouth. When she eats three oversized ants, one of them clutches its head in dismay as it drops into the girl's enormous gullet.

Michelle Knudsen's Library Lion comes eight years later, and its style is a world away. Instead of bold, brightly colored pictures, the lion appears finely drawn in muted hues that blend beautifully with a gentle, touching story. The lion loves the library so much that it becomes a perfect patron ý until the day the librarian needs some help. The lion's expressions are communicated so sweetly that even grown-up readers hurt for him when he has to leave the library. The story ends happily, of course, in a perfect blend of words and pictures.

The idea for the lion comes from Hawkes's work on other projects. Every book is done in dummy form first, with sketches instead of paintings. Sometimes Hawkes likes the sketches better than the finished illustration, because even with its bright colors, the final version loses details he would have liked to keep. In Library Lion, Hawkes illustrates the story in charcoal with a color wash. “It turned out really well and I had a really great time doing it,” he says. “It won't be my last.”

Published in 2006, the book becomes a bestseller.

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