Lane Smith (1959) — American Illustrator and Author
Lane Smith was born in 1959 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and later moved to California, where he studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena while working as a janitor at Disneyland. After graduation, he moved to New York and began working as an illustrator for magazines including TIME, Mother Jones, and Ms.
Smith has illustrated books for a wide range of authors, including Roald Dahl, Isabel Allende, Dr. Seuss, Florence Heide, Sarah Sullivan, and Bob Shea. He has also created several of his own books, most notably It’s a Book!, which became a bestseller, stayed on the New York Times top list for over six months, and has been translated into more than twenty-five languages.
In collaboration with Jon Scieszka, Smith illustrated The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! and The Stinky Cheese Man, both recognized in 2012 by School Library Journal as among the 100 best illustrated books of all time. His style is distinctive, blending humor, bold lines, and inventive compositions that appeal to readers of all ages.
Website | lanesmithbooks.com
Amazon | Lane Smith
Halloween ABC (Eve Merriam, illustrations by Lane Smith) is a darkly playful alphabet book of twenty-six short poems, each keyed to a Halloween word. Published in 1987, the volume pairs Merriam’s rhythmic, often macabre verses with Smith’s moody, painterly images; the illustrations (oil on board) use shadow and a restricted […]
