Pickering, Jimmy

views updated

Pickering, Jimmy

Personal

Born in Talent, OR. Education: California Institute of the Arts, degree.

Addresses

Home—OR. Agent—Shannon Associates, 630 9th Ave., Ste. 707, New York, NY 10036. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Artist, designer, and author. Has worked for Walt Disney Imagineering, Hallmark Cards, and Universal Studios. Exhibitions: Solo exhibitions include DvA Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2007, and Copro Nason Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, 2008. Group exhibitions include Art Institute of Portland, Portland, OR, 2007; Disney Gallery, Anaheim, CA, 2007; and Society of Illustrators, New York, NY, 2007.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

It's Fall, Smallfellow Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2002.

It's Winter, Smallfellow Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2002.

It's Spring, Smallfellow Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2003.

It's Summer, Smallfellow Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2003.

Skelly the Skeleton Girl, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2007.

Skelly and Femur, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2009.

ILLUSTRATOR

Scott Allen, Somethin' Pumpkin, Smallfellow Press (Los Angeles, CA), 2001.

Stephen Krensky, Bubble Trouble, Aladdin Paperbacks (New York, NY), 2004.

Jeffrey Fulmer, My Imagination Kit, Mondo (New York, NY), 2004.

Robyn Parnell, My Closet Threw a Party, Sterling Publishing (New York, NY), 2005.

Alan Jardine, Sloop John B: A Pirate's Tale (with CD), Milk & Cookies Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Elizabeth Hatch, Halloween Night, Random House (New York, NY), 2005.

Angie Sage, The Sword in the Grotto, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Angie Sage, My Haunted House, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Angie Sage, Vampire Brat, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Angie Sage, Frognapped, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Angie Sage, Ghostsitters, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2008.

Jack Prelutsky, The Swamps of Sleethe: Poems from beyond the Solar System, Knopf (New York, NY), 2009.

Sidelights

Jimmy Pickering, a painter and designer who has worked at such companies as Walt Disney Imagineering and Universal Studios, also provides artwork for picture books such as Vampire Brat by Angie Sage and Halloween Night by Elizabeth Hatch. Pickering is an author as well as illustrator, however, and he counts Skelly the Skeleton Girl among his original self-illustrated stories. Noting that his own artistic style blends elements of Dr. Seuss, Edward Gorey, the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, and "crazy foam," Pickering stated on his home page that "the results are something odd, strange a little scary, but somehow funny and harmless."

Written by Alan Jardine, cofounder of the popular surf band the Beach Boys, Sloop John B: A Pirate's Tale concerns the adventures of a youngster and his grandfather after they run afoul of some buccaneers. "The vibrant illustrations add humor to the story with many amusing details and characterizations," Linda L. Walkins noted in School Library Journal, and a Publishers Weekly contributor observed that "Pickering's often-dazzling mixed-media compositions" for Jardine's tale "bring the watery setting to life." In Halloween Night, Hatch's cumulative story based on "The House That Jack Built," a tiny mouse hiding inside a jack-o'-lantern unleashes a wild chain of events. A Kirkus Reviews critic praised Pickering's art for the book, stating that "wacky perspectives and silly details keep the pictures on the playful side of thrilling."

An eerie little girl searches for the owner of a misplaced bone in Skelly the Skeleton Girl, a "charmingly simple tale," according to Amelia Jenkins in School Library Journal. After questioning a host of spooky creatures, including her spidery neighbor, several ghostly visitors, and some man-eating plants, Skelly solves the mystery. "Despite the ghoulish subtext, midnight palette and inky backdrops, Pickering keeps the mood breezy," a Publishers Weekly critic remarked, and a contributor in Kirkus Reviews recommended Skelly the Skeleton Girl as a "gothic treat [that] is perfect for those who like to be scared—just a tiny bit."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2005, review of Sloop John B: A Pirate's Tale, p. 540; August 1, 2005, review of Hal-loween Night, p. 849; July 1, 2007, review of Skelly the Skeleton Girl.

Publishers Weekly, May 9, 2005, review of Sloop John B, p. 69; August 1, 2005, review of Halloween Night, p. 63; August 14, 2006, review of My Haunted House, p. 205; September 24, 2007, review of Skelly the Skeleton Girl, p. 72.

School Library Journal, July, 2003, Doris Losey, review of It's Spring and It's Summer, p. 104; June, 2005, Wendy Woodfill, review of My Closet Threw a Party, p. 124; July, 2005, Linda L. Walkins, review of Sloop John B, p. 75; August, 2005, Marge Loch-Wouters, review of Halloween Night, p. 113; August, 2007, Amelia Jenkins, review of Skelly the Skeleton Girl, p. 88; September, 2007, Walter Minkel, review of Frognapped, p. 175.