Scott Gustafson

By the time he finished growing up in Marengo, Illinois, Gustafson was convinced that he wanted to be an animator. It wasn’t until he was halfway through high school that he discovered the book The Boy’s King Arthur tucked away in a corner of the library. Its illustrations by N.C. Wyeth galvanized him, making him realize that this was the sort of detail, color and vibrancy he had been looking for all his artistic life.While Gustafson pursued animation throughout his years at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and Columbia College, also in Illinois, he still sought illustrations by Wyeth, Arthur Rackham, Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish and others. It was not until he discovered the realities of the animation industry that he started to consider fine art illustration as a career option. “The opportunities of animation, in terms of subject matter and creative control, weren’t nearly as interesting or rewarding as those of illustration,” he says. His classic, opulent approach elicited immediate response, and soon his work was appearing in magazines as diverse as The Saturday Evening Post and Playboy. His work came to the attention of book publishers and he began to illustrate anew such classic children’s books as The Night Before Christmas, The Nutcracker and Peter Pan. At that time, he also wrote and illustrated new volumes, including Alphabet Soup and The Animal Orchestra.

Scott Gustafson Images:
Happily Ever After
The Queen