Michael Gellatly

Michael Gellatly

Phone: 860-480-4154
michaelgellatly@gmail.com
www.mgellatlyillo.com

10 Haight Rd.
Amenia, NY 12501
U.S.A.

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So I was born into this plan, that is, drawing from the get go. Then I wasn’t asking any questions, so I’m thinking this drawing thing is here to serve some kind of existential purpose, something I can find a deeper meaning to life a lot sooner then working to grasp existentialism. Seemed to go over ok with friends, young girls, and even from time to time, or class to class - schoolwork. This art-making destiny was offered and excepted very early on, and it would take one Jon Gnagy with his ‘Learn to Draw with Jon Gnagy’s, on Sat. morning NBCTV sometime during the fifties, to teach me with a handful of tools, essentials of seeing and drawing that I still apply to this day. Later on, 6th or 7th grade, I would do a drawing of ‘Digger’, an Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth character (think Ralph Steadman drawing crazy hot rod drivers) for an American History project, and how easy and effective it was to draw Paul Revere in Digger’s place, busting up through the roof of the car, one hand on the shift knob, the other waving attention to his warning. This kind of pictoral language made a lot of sense to me, as it did in the grading. Art making has been sustainable throughout, fulfilling all the desires of my senses. It has to be this way. Illustration showed up one morning in the form of a job, as an assistant art director at the Woodworker’s Journal, a bi-monthly woodworking magazine. There we did everything from conceiving projects, building them, through writing and production, to finally sending it off to the printer. My technical illustration portfolio would build in the 10 years I worked there. I left there armed as an illustrator. As a freelance illustrator over the past 25 years, my assignments predominantly come from the General Reference/ How-To markets, both in magazine and book work. This ability to illustrate clearly, I credit those days at the magazine. My life in the studio as a fine artist continues to elevate the level of aesthetics, the agency of content, and the pitch of embellishment, in whatever form or function of the illustration. I’ve always loved drawing maps- the overall free-form shape, the contours, rivers, mountains, the legends, cartouches and fancy borders, symbols and icons, ……maps have it all going on! In 2014, I was commission by Random House, to illustrate a series of maps - the Regions of Westeros, for George R.R. Martin’s ‘history’ book, The World of Ice and Fire. I did graphite and ink drawings of all the various elements, then digitally constructed each map from there. Other map assignments have been for historical, sci-fi, editorial, and psychological purposes, with the occasional maps serving as dysfunctional indicators of troubled lands. Some have said, that I’m a cartographer without borders, and a botanist without plants. There’s some truth to that! I’m proud of the fact that for the last 19 years and 19 books I’ve been illustrating the murder mystery series, Sneaky Pie Brown, written by the eminent Rita Mae Brown. (Random House). Doing these animal driven books over the years has only helped to expanded my animal oriented clientel. I’m currently working on two books, one, an instructional/visually fueled, humorous coffee table chopping block, on the Sandwich. The second is a book about Sculpture for the young at heart and the nimble of mind, complete with a glossary of terms -Tools for the Playground. I'll keep you posted. close

Clients include: Random House ▪ Bantam/Doubleday ▪ Delacorte Press ▪ Hyperion ▪ Simon & Schuster ▪ MacMillan Magraw Hill ▪ Storey Publishing ▪ Taunton Press ▪ Rodale Press ▪ Yankee Books ▪ Boston Common Press ▪ Fair Winds Publishing ▪ N Y Times Book Review ▪ Phoenix Home and Garden ▪ Hope Magazine ▪ Horticulture ▪ Backpacking ▪ Wooden Boat close