Cyd Moore

Illustrator Cyd Moore combines fun, art in children's books

 In Cyd Moore's studio, a mosaic birdhouse sits on a small table just a few feet from a tall, broad canvas and a drafting table.
  She admits to being a little ADD - her list of interests includes yoga, martial arts, voracious reading, gardening, painting, gourmet cooking and her latest love, cement art. That's in addition to sharing a home with her partner, Rob, and enjoying the adulthood of her sons Lindsay and Branden, both in college.
  But when it comes to illustrating children's books, Moore has a singular focus: combining her very best art with a whole lot of fun.
  "Kids are cool. I love to do things for kids and parents," Moore said, adding she imagines a parent and child sitting together reading her books. "It sounds corny, but I really do."

  Images and color filled Moore's childhood; her mother was an artist. "I don't remember a time when I wasn't drawing," she said. "And I got a lot of encouragement at school...I was always the one who did the cheerleader posters, I was on the yearbook staff."
    After studying graphic arts in college, Moore went on to a career as an illustrator for newspapers, a television sitcom, advertising agencies - she even designed a McDonald's Happy Meal box that was distributed in Canada. "The whole time, I was doing my own art as well," she said.
    While working in Birmingham, Alabama, she saw her unique style copied by other graphic artists. Moore realized she needed to move beyond the southeast U.S. Agents in Chicago and New York connected her with the world of book illustration.
    "The samples I sent to them were for a children's theater and the zoo," Moore said. "I started getting children's book illustrations, which is what I wanted to do in the first place."
     Since then, she's had steady work with major publishing houses and has aligned herself with noted authors like Lisa McCort, who writes the "Stinky Face" books. Moore is also working on a new book by Raffi, If You're Happy and You Know It. Her Web site shows four new titles scheduled this year, and one in 2006.
    Having struggled through a project she didn't really enjoy, Moore now takes on only those she really believes in. "I can do the hard ones, but I want to enjoy the experience. I want to love the job."
    Look for her to take that love one step further; Moore plans to illustrate one of the children's books she has written. To enjoy her art or order books, visit her web site.