Elliot Kreloff

I have been drawing and acting out stories as long as I can remember. My mom said that she wanted to buy stock in a paper company because I went through so many sketch pads. Starting when I was 7 years old, I went to art classes at the Brooklyn Museum every Saturday morning. All by myself, I took the long bus ride from the far end of Flatbush Avenue, got off at the majestic Brooklyn Public Library, walked through the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and arrived for my art class at 10 am. So yes, I am a Brooklyn boy. We were taken through the dark galleries, learning to draw the Egyptian mummies and the carved African masks. Later on, I was lucky enough to get into the High School of Music and Art. Which was much further than the museum. An hour and a half subway ride, each way! I spent every day making art surrounded by other artists and musicians. I loved it! Then, at college, Cooper Union, I fell in love with typography and design, and of course I was still drawing. My best friend at school got her first job as a designer at Scholastic Magazines. She hired me to illustrate a magazine cover for a kids’ magazine called Science World. I was hooked. After that, my whole career as an artist, spanning almost fifty years has been dedicated to making stuff for kids-- toys, websites, magazines, clothing, but especially books. What I love about making children’s books is that they are so visual. In no other printed medium is art the main event like it is in picture books. That’s why they call them ‘picture’ books. A few words on each page underline a lovely canvas filled with beautiful and meaningful images. Fifty years making books means that there are a lot of books with my name attached to them, as a designer and illustrator and in the last ten years as an author, too. Google me, or check out my author’s page on Amazon.

You’ll see that I’ve gotten a few awards along the way, and some lovely reviews. And, hopefully, brightened more than a few kids’ bedtimes. Today, this Brooklyn boy lives in Harlem in upper Manhattan (just a few blocks from my old High School—small world), with his partner Stephen. I still design, make art and write every day… at least I try.