Staake, Bob 1957-

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STAAKE, Bob 1957-

PERSONAL: Born 1957; partner of Paulette Fehlig; children: Ryan, Kevin. Education: University of Southern California, B.S. (journalism). Hobbies and other interests: Traveling, fixing old houses, painting, foreign movies, collecting.

ADDRESSES: Office—726 South Ballas Rd., Saint Louis, MO 63122. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Illustrator, cartoonist, graphic artist, and writer. Planet Cartoonist.com (Web site), creator. Freelance artist and designer for corporate and private clients; designer of greeting cards, multimedia, and Internet sites.

AWARDS, HONORS: Reuben Award nominations for Best Newspaper Illustrator and Best Greeting Card Cartoonist, both 1998.

WRITINGS:

FOR ADULTS

(Illustrator) Headlines by Jay Leno: The Tonight Show, Book I, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1989.

(Illustrator with Jack Davis) Jay Leno's Headlines, Wings Books/Random House (New York, NY), 1989.

Humor and Cartoon Market (annual), Writer's Digest Books (Cincinnati, OH), 1990, 1991, 1993.

The Complete Book of Caricature, North Light Books (Cincinnati, OH), 1991.

(Illustrator) Dr. Lendon H. Smith, M.D., Happiness Is a Healthy Life, Keats Publishing (New Canaan, CT), 1992.

(Illustrator) True and Tacky II, Topper Books (New York, NY), 1992.

The Complete Book of Humorous Art, North Light Books (Cincinnati, OH), 1996.

(Illustrator) Gene Weingarten, The Hypochondriac's Guide to Life and Death, Simon and Schuster (New York, NY), 1998.

Contributor to periodicals, including Time, Parents, Forbes, Nickelodeon, Mad, Playboy, Soap Opera Digest, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, San Francisco Weekly, Los Angeles Weekly, and Washington Business Review. Author of newsletter The Sporadic Bob.

ILLUSTRATOR; FOR CHILDREN

Boing!, Simon and Schuster/Nickelodeon (New York, NY), 1996.

Splish!, Simon and Schuster/Nickelodeon (New York, NY), 1996.

Susan Pohlmann and Priscilla Turner, The Boy's Guide to Life, Addison Wesley Longman (Boston, MA), 1998.

Susan Pohlmann and Priscilla Turner, The Girl's Guide to Life, Addison Wesley Longman (Boston, MA), 1998.

My Little 1 2 3 Book, Little Simon (New York, NY), 1998.

My Little A B C Book, Little Simon (New York, NY), 1998.

Sindy McKay, June's Tune, Treasure Bay (South San Francisco, CA), 2000.

Jess Brallier, Bouncing Science, Planet Dexter (New York, NY), 2000.

Jess Brallier, Hairy Science, Planet Dexter (New York, NY), 2000.

Jess Brallier, Shadowy Science: All You Need Is a Shadow!, Planet Dexter (New York, NY), 2000.

Jess Brallier, Thumbs up Science, Planet Dexter (New York, NY), 2000.

My Little Color Book, Little Simon (New York, NY), 2001.

My Little Opposites Book, Little Simon (New York, NY), 2001.

Little Golden Picture Dictionary, Golden Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Charles Ghigna, One Hundred Shoes: A Math Reader, Random House (New York, NY), 2002.

Melanie Davis Jones, Pigs Rock!, Viking (New York, NY), 2003.

Also illustrator of The Mighty Little Lion Hunter.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Editing Life as an Illustrator; the children's books Hello, Robots, Polar Bears Don't Need Underwear and Other Poems, Modern Mother Goose, Mrs. Rhyme, Pop!, and Welcome to Shapetown.

SIDELIGHTS: Bob Staake is a popular illustrator and cartoonist who has never taken an art class. Staake's illustrations have appeared in advertisements, editorial cartoons, animated cartoons, and books, and he has also added "writer" to his credits with the books The Complete Book of Caricature and The Complete Book of Humorous Art.

Staake's career began at West Torrance High School, where he drew editorial cartoons for the school newspaper. When one of Staake's cartoons won a contest and was featured in People magazine, it gained the illustrator national attention, and Staake began to receive job offers. "When I began working for my school newspaper, I realized that there was power in my drawings," he told Renee Stovsky in an interview for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I no longer viewed them from an aesthetic standpoint. The drawings became subservient to the expression of my ideas." Not long after the People article was published, Los Angeles Times cartoonist Paul Conrad became Staake's mentor. Conrad even helped Staake get into the University of Southern California on a full scholarship, where Staake wrote editorial cartoons for the campus newspaper, the Daily Trojan, while majoring in journalism. After college, Staake worked for a while before deciding to freelance full-time.

Among other projects, Staake has worked on children's books with a number of authors. In addition, he has created the My Little … concept book series for young children. "Although many board books introduce concepts, Staake's are notable for the sophistication of their graphic design," observed Carolyn Phelan in Booklist. While the colorful books exhibit "a certain sophistication," they remain "very accessible to kids," Staake commented in the St. Louis Journalism Review, "They just don't insult children. There's not a bunch of little ducklings running around. The books have a certain digital aesthetic with lots of graphics."

Another of Staake's creations, the Planet Cartoonist Web site, provides valuable resources for artists and illustrators trying to break into cartoon art. Many of Staake's original graphics can be seen on his personal Web site, which contains an extensive showcase of greeting cards, book illustrations, advertising art, and other works.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2001, Carolyn Phelan, review of My Little Opposites Book, p. 2021.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2003, review of Pigs Rock!, pp. 388-389.

St. Louis Journalism Review, May, 1998, Don Corrigan, "Bob Staake: Future of Newspapers Belongs to Visual Artists," pp. 1-2.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 8, 1998, Renee Stovsky, "Eye Poppers!: Illustrator Bob Staake Works a 'Subversive Wink' into His Two New Children's Books" (interview).

School Arts, September, 1998, Kent Anderson, review of The Complete Book of Humorous Art, pp. 56-57.