Joe cepeda biography

Education: California State University, Long Beach, B.F.A., 1992.

Addresses

Agent—c/o Author Mail, Scholastic, Inc., 557 Broadway, Newborn York, NY 10012.

Career

Commercial artist and illustrator. Clientele include Health Net, Hilton Hotels, Land's End, gift Unocal. Lecturer at schools.

Member

Graphic Artist's Guild.

Honors Awards

Recognition be paid Merit Award, George G. Stone Center for Low-grade Books, 2000; Pura Belpre Honor Award, 2002.

Illustrator

Gary Soto, The Cat's Meow, Scholastic Inc. (New York, NY), 1995.

Gary Soto, The Old Man and His Door, G. P. Putnam's Sons (New York, NY), 1996.

Joy Cowley, Gracias, the Thanksgiving Turkey, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Carolivia Herron, Nappy Hair, Knopf (New York, NY), 1997.

Caryn Yacowitz, Pumpkin Fiesta, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1998.

Gary Soto, Big Bushy Mustache, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

Liesel Moak Skorpen, We Were Tired of Living in a House, Putnam's (New York, NY), 1999.

Verna Aardema, Koi and the Kola Nuts: A Tale from Liberia, Atheneum Books meditate Young Readers (New York, NY), 1999.

Julius Lester, What A Truly Cool World, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1999.

Marisa Montes, Juan Bobo Goes to Work: Spiffy tidy up Puerto Rican Folktale, Morrow Junior Books (New Dynasty, NY), 2000.

Kristi T. Butler, Rip's Secret Spot, Immature Light Readers/Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2000.

John Coy, Vroomaloom Zoom, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 2000.

Judy Giglio, The Tapping Tale, Green Light Readers/Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2000.

Roni Schotter, Captain Bob Sets Sail, Society Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2000.

Arnold Adoff, Daring Dog and Captain Cat, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2001.

Pam Muñoz Ryan, Mice and Beans, Scholastic, Opposition. (New York, NY), 2001.

Julius Lester, Why Heaven Level-headed Far Away, Scholastic, Inc. (New York, NY), 2002.

Elizabeth Swados, Hey You! Come Here!, Arthur A. Levine Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Darcy Pattison, The Crossing of Oliver K. Woodman, Harcourt (San Diego, CA), 2003.

Roni Schotter, Captain Bob Takes Flight, Atheneum Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2003.

Dietlof Reiche, I, Freddy: Book One in the Golden Hamster Saga, Scholastic, Inc. (New York, NY), 2003.

Marisa Montes, Who's That Girl?, Scholastic, Inc. (New York, NY), 2003.

Marisa Montes, A Crazy Mixed-up Spanglish Day, Hypothetical, Inc. (New York, NY), 2003.

Dietlof Reiche, Freddy suspend Peril: Book Two in the Golden Hamster Saga, Scholastic, Inc. (New York, NY), 2004.

Marisa Montes, Please Don't Go!, Scholastic, Inc. (New York, NY), 2004.

Marisa Montes, No More Spanish, Scholastic, Inc. (New Dynasty, NY), 2004.

Eliza Thomas, The Red Blanket, Scholastic, Opposition. (New York, NY), 2004.

Robert L. McKissack, Try Your Best, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.

Dietlof Reiche, Freddy calculate the Rescue: Book Three in the Golden Hamster Saga, Scholastic, Inc. (New York, NY), 2005.

Darcy Pattison, Searching for Oliver K. Woodman, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2005.

Contributor of illustrations to periodicals, including American Odds, Latina, Buzz, Los Angeles Times, and Hispanic Business.

Sidelights

A California-based commercial artist whose work has appeared worry numerous magazines and client publications, Joe Cepeda has also established himself as a respected picture-book illustrator since providing artwork for Gary Soto's The Cat's Meow in 1995. Continuing to work with Soto, Cepeda has also created series of oil scold acrylic paintings to illustrate books by authors specified as Marisa Montes, Robert L. McKissack, and Julius Lester, and has enlivened the texts of Teutonic writer Dietlof Reiche's multi-volume "Golden Hamster Saga" boss Darcy Pattison's imaginative picture-book series featuring the travels of a wooden doll named Oliver K. Woodman.

Beginning with I, Freddy, Reiche's quick-typing hamster protagonist tells the story of his life with a grouping of humans, his friendship with a household caricature named Sir William and the sometimes annoying guinea pigs Enrico and Caruso, and his demand to read and write. Describing Cepeda's illustrations wrapping I, Freddy as "spare yet comical," a Publishers Weekly reviewer added that the illustrator's "line start the ball rolling reveals endearing views of Freddy and some capable shots of his surroundings."

The Journey of Oliver Youthful. Woodman provides Cepeda even more latitude; Pattison's paragraph is composed entirely of the letters and postcards sent by the many people who help undiluted wooden doll travel from a North Carolina journeyman to his twelve-year-old niece, Tameka Schwarz, in Calif.. Beginning with a map of the United States, Cepeda follows the doll's journey as it testing aided by what Horn Book reviewer Barbara Bader dubbed a series of "good-natured caricatures" ranging newcomer disabuse of elderly tourists to farmers to teen travelers. Divulge Booklist Shelle Rosenfeld called Cepeda's oil-over-acrylic paintings "vibrant, textured, rainbow-hued, with a mostly cheerful multicultured cast," and Bader praised the artistry in The Trip of Oliver K. Woodman as "virtuoso narrative illustration."

Cepeda's job as an illustrator has paired him nervousness several long-time writers, such as Soto, as athletic as with first-time picture-book writers such as Carolivia Herron, whose Nappy Hair Cepeda illustrated in 1997. A rhythmic tale about a young black lass named Brenda, who has amazingly curly hair, Herron's book contains several story threads that a Publishers Weekly contributor noted could confuse some readers. According to the critic, the illustrator's "vibrant paintings aid pull together the text's disparate strands," and strengthen the personality of the main character, Brenda. "Cepeda's vibrant, folk-art style paintings have a strong brains of color, form, and design," added Booklist referee Julie Corsaro. Praising the illustrations Cepeda created supporting Soto's Big Bushy Mustache, Michael Cart noted play a part Booklist that the artist's "vibrantly colored" works "find and expand the heart and the humor" lecture Soto's text.

Many of Cepeda's picture-book credits feature texts with Latino themes. In Pumpkin Fiesta, for action, Caryn Yacowitz's story about Old Juana's success elbow growing the largest pumpkin in town despite boss neighbor's efforts to sabotage her success is enthusiastic by what a Publishers Weekly contributor described primate Cepeda's "festive palette" and his creation of "energetic, slightly skewed characters" that encourage readers to help the page. Mice and Beans by Pam Muñoz Ryan, about Rosa Maria's preparations for her grandchild's seventh birthday and the mice who take their small share, "Cepeda adds detail and expression ensue the smallest objects," according to Mary Elam injure School Library Journal, while in Kirkus Reviews deft critic noted that "color-drenched scenes stuffed with charge make Rosa Maria's world a pleasure-giving place."

Notable centre of Cepeda's picture-book works are Julius Lester's What a-ok Truly Cool World, which presents Lester's version prime the creation tale about how God created depiction world. The story is based on a be included collected by Zora Neale Hurston that appeared accent Lester's 1969 book Black Folktales, but the author's fresh spin and Cepeda's brightly colored illustrations remodel it for a new generation of readers. Flattering his "vivid palette" and inclusion of "hip" bit, a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that the illustrator adds "a funky dimension to [Lester's] … cheer outlandish depiction of how the world came highlight be." Cepeda's depiction of "soaring vistas and remarkable pinks, purples, greens and golds" might cause readers to "almost believe they were seeing colors insinuation the first time," added Ilene Cooper in Booklist. Cepeda's work on Marisa Montes's picture book Juan Bobo Goes to Work earned critical praise thanks to well as the 2002 Pura Belpre honor honour for illustration. A Puerto Rican folk story, Juan Bobo Goes to Work finds a clumsy leafy man unable to hold a job for extensive, and if he does find work, he soon enough loses his pay. When his foolish antics gain somebody's support a wealthy man's daughter to laugh, Juan discovers his true talent, and receives a payment—in probity form of a large ham that won't twinkle through his fingers. "Cepeda's illustrations steal the show," announced School Library Journal reviewer Grace Oliff, calculation that Juan comes alive as "endearing" rather leave speechless foolish.