Paul Meisel

As a child

I spent the first eight years of my life on Long Island, USA, in a small house with my parents and three brothers. We moved to Briarcliff in Westchester County where all of my childhood memories really begin. It was in high school when I started to draw seriously, including after school classes at local artist Myril Adler’s home. At Wesleyan University, I studied drawing, painting and printmaking, in addition to various liberal arts courses. I spent my junior year on the Tyler School of Art programme in Rome, Italy. I travelled all over Italy and parts of Europe, spent the second semester living with an Italian family and studying studio art and liberal arts with some great professors from Tyler and Temple. After Wesleyan, I went to Yale, where I received an MFA in Graphic Design. I enjoy being an illustrator immensely. If truth be told, though, as a child what I really wanted to be when I grew up was a pitcher for the New York Mets baseball team.

As an adult

After graduating from Yale, I got married and went to New York to be a graphic designer. Two jobs and nine months later, I started to do freelance illustration. I began doing work for a few art directors at The New York Times. This led a couple of art directors and editors at children's book publishers my way, and I have been fortunate to stay busy ever since. I now live in Connecticut with my wife and three sons and a blind Brittany dog named Rusty. My kids play baseball (my oldest son Peter is on the Bates College team) and soccer (that's Andrew and Alex). When they were younger I was involved in coaching them in their various endeavours. Now I enjoy watching them play from the stands. The most thrilling sports moment to date was watching my middle son’s high school soccer team become state champs.

As an artist

Things you didn't know about Paul Meisel

1. My favourite colour is cobalt blue.
2. I have a blind Brittany dog who knows where all the steps in the house are (inside and out).
3. I love to play tennis.
4. Two of my sons like to call me Pablo.
5. I usually have a messy studio.
6. I like to experiment in my work using different kids of paints, paper, pens, etc.
7. I love to draw animals.
8. My wife and I designed and had built for us the house we live in now.
9. I try to avoid eating red meat.
10. I still would like to pitch for the Mets.