Meet the illustrators for Level Up at Your Library

  • Mike Curato

    Pre-K poster and graphics

    Mike Curato loves drawing and writing almost as much as he loves cupcakes and ice cream (and that’s a LOT!). He is the author and illustrator of everyone’s favorite polka-dotted elephant, Little Elliot. His debut title, Little Elliot, Big City (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, Macmillan), released in 2014 to critical acclaim, has won several awards, and is being translated into ten languages. The follow up book, Little Elliot, Big Family, was just released in October, 2015, and has received several starred reviews. At least two more Little Elliot books are forthcoming. Mike lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

    —mikecurato.com

  • Nick Dragotta

    Elementary age poster and graphics

    What happens when you take a comic book artist, an inventor, and a toy designer? You get HOWTOONS. Our mission is to provide engaging content that teaches kids how to build things, combining instructions with storytelling. Howtoons has a foundation of science and engineering education, inspiring creativity through art and imagination.

    The primary contributors to Howtoons are Nick Dragotta (comic artist), Saul Griffith (inventor), and Ingrid Dragotta (toy designer).

    Nick Dragotta is the artist and co-creator, along with writer Jonathan Hickman, of the breakout hit of 2013, EAST OF WEST. Dragotta and Hickman made names for their creative team previously on FF at Marvel Comics, where Dragotta also worked on the landmark run of X-Statix with Peter Milligan and many other of the top Marvel characters such as Captain America, Spider-Man, the X-Men and others. Nick is the co-creator of East of West and Howtoons.

    —howtoons.com

  • James Spurgeon and Gino Cieslik

    Teen poster and graphics

    Skate Decks—James Spurgeon
    Background Design—Gino Cieslik

    Skatepark architectural renderings courtesy of Spohn Ranch: Skatepark Designers & Builders
    —spohnranch.com

  • Russell McGonagle

    Adult poster and graphics

    Photography ©2016 Russell McGonagle
    —russellmcgonagle.com