About Stacey Schuett


Some True Stories About Stacey Schuett

I was a dreamy kind of little kid who loved to make stuff up. Stories, pictures, past lives, whatever.
Except for a brief interest in becoming a veterinarian, (derailed by the unhappy combination of a dog, a porcupine, a pair of pliers and a lot of blood), I pretty much always wanted to keep on being an artist and writer. Luckily for me, it's worked out.

Although I went through school as a fine artist (determined to be artistically pure, though starving), I fortunately was given the chance to illustrate my first children's book shortly after graduation. And I found that I loved the challenge of both enhancing the story-telling power of a book with pictures, and of conveying ideas or concepts without words.

Illustrations can so quickly grasp the reader's imagination--and expand it. So much can be said, at times, with so little. I clearly remember the power certain books held for me as a child. The mood the illustrations created, and the way images gave life to words, made the books seem more real than real life--at least for awhile.

Now, with small children of my own, I get to visit that terrain all over again, through their eyes. I see them become thoroughly absorbed in stories and pictures, as I was. I can see the magic of a good book take over. Watching them, I like to hope that the work I do now might affect other imaginations in a similar way.

Since that first book, years ago, I've illustrated many more. I've written a number of my own stories, also, which allow me the chance to build a book from both sides--text and pictures--as both the author and illustrator. (I find I am amazingly easy to work with.)

In addition to books, I'm drawn to the requirements of more conceptual editorial and other kinds of illustrating, and happily head off into new and different directions. I'm not that dreamy little kid anymore. But, to my surprise, I'm still doing what I like best. Though forced to grow up and live in the real world, I still get to stare out the window and make stuff up...for a living.

Imagine.

Some True Stories About Stacey Schuett