OK, admittedly I’m a sucker for the kind of parody/homage to Vermeer seen in children’s book illustrator Chris Sheban’s take on Vermeer’s “Young Woman with a Water Pitcher“, hanging on a kid’s bedroom wall in the illustration above. Add in my affection for paleo art and dinosaurs in general (I want one of theose brachiosaurus lamps) and I couldn’t help but be fascinated.
I was delighted to find that Sheban’s other work is just as terrific. His illustrations are wonderfully imagined and executed, composed of rich, atmospheric colors, a subtle play of light and striking characters; and enlivened with a beautifully textured rendering style.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find much biographical info or details on his working methods, as Sheban doesn’t seem to have a web site. I found a few stray bits of information, he lives in Illinios and trained in Perugia, Italy, but that’s about all I could find.
Fortunately, his work is represented on the web on the site of his artists rep, The Graphic Artists Guild and two illustrator portfolio sites.
I was particularly disappointed to see that many of the books he has illustrated, apparently including I Met a Dinosaur, for which he received a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators and which I presume included this image, are not currently in print (undoubtedly a result of the insane overemphasis on what’s new at the expense of all else, that’s indicative of the sorry circus of self-destructive madness that is the modern publishing industry, but, I digress).
I love his work. His black and white illustrations are very nice, too…very soft and atmospheric
I’m so glad I wandered across your blog; I love that Sheban illustration – off to search for more…
Glad you like the work of my talented brother who I have harassed for many years to do more self promotion. A website is in the works (finally) but Chris spends most of his time drawing, parenting, and sharpening hundreds of colored pencils. He has a new picture book with Myla Goldberg called “Catching the Moon,” that I think is the best work he’s done. I will continue to bug him to display more of his work. In the near future his prints will be available. Thanks again for your interest.
Terry Sheban
Thanks, Terry. Let me know when the site goes live.
I need to find bio information on Chris Sheban. If anyone can help, please let me know. I need it by midnight tomorrow night.
Thank you for posting this. Now I long for a brachiosaurus lamp just like that!
Meanwhile, try abebooks.com to get out-of-print works. I found a children’s book through them that my mother had been looking for for forty years.