I’m an award-winning children's author and illustrator based in Boulder, Colorado. I aim to help young readers discover beauty and wonder in the world by creating picture books that are inspiring, accessible and memorable.
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Jessica Lanan is the Sibert and Golden Kite Honor winning author and illustrator of Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider and The Fisherman and the Whale, a Colorado Book Award finalist and winner of the Bull-Bransom Award for wildlife art. She has illustrated many other books including The Lost Package by Richard Ho, Just Right: Searching for the Goldilocks Planet by Curtis Manley and Thank You Moon by Melissa Stewart.
Jessica grew up in the Rocky Mountains where she developed an early love of nature and exploration. She earned a BA in sculpture from Scripps College and after graduation traveled solo for a year through Asia on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to study folk tales. She brought a set of travel watercolors on that trip and has been a devoted painter and storyteller ever since. Today Jessica is still following her sketchbook wherever her curiosity leads her. She is passionate about helping young readers discover the beauty and wonder of their world, and aims to create picture books that are just as inspiring and memorable as the world around them. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.
I am particularly interested in the way art and storytelling can be used to build empathy and to support conservation and environmental causes. In 2023 I joined eight other children's authors and illustrators in the Children’s Book Creators for Conservation group to engage in hands-on conservation and outreach work with the Wild Tomorrow nonprofit in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Our efforts included bird banding, removing invasive species and snares, supporting anti-poaching initiatives and community outreach, and assisting at a rhinoceros orphanage. But most of all, our mission was to observe and document the hard, multifaceted work that goes into preserving vulnerable habitats and species through a storyteller lens.
To amplify our impact, we channeled creativity into financial support through art sales and partnerships. One of our proudest achievements was raising enough funds to replace the radio collar on an elephant matriarch, ensuring her safety and the continued protection of her herd and the surrouding communities. This transformative experience was just the first of many conservation partnerships to come, and our hope is that through storytelling we can build a bridge to inspire future generations to care for our planet and each other.
I try to bring a sketchbook along whenever I travel, and I am committed to doing in-person research whenever possible for my projects. It's amazing how much information you can capture in a sketch, and there is no better way to understand a subject than by interacting with it. In our increasingly digital and artificial world there is no substitute for real observation.
This hands-on research approach improves the quality and accuracy of my work, but it has also allowed me to connect with people wherever I go. Drawing on location is vulnerable, and it unlocks the door to conversation and community in a way that surpasses cultural and linguistic boundaries.
My artistic adventures have led me on a wide variety of voyages and missions. Whether I am documenting the beauty of the Rocky Mountain landscape, scribbling in a deep and muddy cave, or documenting the hard work of wildlife conservationists, there is always something amazing to see and learn, and plenty of ideas to bring home and share with my readers.
