ELAINE JEROME

Elaine Jerome is a freelance illustrator who specializes in artwork for children's books. She has illustrated two books, one of which went on to be reprinted as a second-grade reader. She has also created illustrations for packaging and brand identity, as well as murals for a children's-wear boutique. Elaine earned her BFA from Academy of Art San Francisco after earning a BS in Animal Science and Wildlife Biology from the University of Vermont. 

Elaine has loved crafting imaginative stories for children since she was a child herself, and made chapbooks of her stories and drawings to entertain her younger sister. Dreaming up fantastic creatures, characters, and landscapes passed many long hours as their family lived and traveled overseas. One of her early attempts was published in Stone Soup. 

Elaine also has a strong interest in animals and at one point considered practicing veterinary medicine before she returned to illustration and storytelling. She particularly enjoys creating imagery that includes or focuses on animals, influenced by both her field studies and many years of pet hamsters, birds, fish, mice, turtles, rabbits, cats, and dogs. She is also an avid outdoorswoman and traveler, with a love of wild places and adventure sports from mountaineering and snowboarding to kayaking and surfing. She currently lives and works in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California.