Life experience: When he was eight years old, Tim lost an eye in an accident. During his recovery, his father gave him oil paints, a couple of brushes, and a small canvas and his love of painting was born. For seventeen years Tim served as a community minister with an inner-city Christian mission organization in Wichita, Los Angeles, and a short time in Newark. To help meet the need for children’s books that accurately depict urban culture, he created the picture book Psalm Twenty-Three. More than 15 books followed as well as a host of editorial, cover, advertising and narrative illustration.

Education: A degree in graphic design from Wichita State University and also studied painting and drawing for a semester in Rome, Italy.

Illustration/design experience: After school, Tim worked as an associate art director of an advertising design studio in Wichita. Later, he worked two years as art director/illustrator for a New York publishing company, followed by eight years of freelance illustrating.

Clients: Picture book clients include Eerdmans, Zondervan, Augsburg, Chicken Soup for Little Souls picture books, and Paraclete Press. Educational publishing clients include Pearson Education, Harcourt Education, and Holt, Rinehart and Winston.