We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Erin McGuire. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Erin below.

Alright, Erin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I’ve spent the past fifteen years illustrating children’s books and book covers, but I had always hoped to write my own as well. In 2019, I sold my first author/illustrator project THE SPY IN THE MUSEUM at auction to Simon & Schuster. My book tells the true story of Rose Valland, a French spy who saved tens of thousands of works of art from being looted or destroyed by the Germans in WWII. I had been researching Rose for years, even traveled to France to visit the museum where she worked. To this day, we are still finding artwork displaced or stolen during WWII. It shows that her efforts had meaning even after her death, and that hers is a story worth telling.

Erin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a children’s book author/illustrator living near Raleigh, North Carolina.

Over the past fifteen years, I’ve illustrated picture books and book covers for projects like Nancy Drew Diaries, Sleeping Beauty for Disney Hyperion, and Alabama Spitfire for HarperCollins. I’ve taught and lectured internationally about art, illustration, and picture books.

I’m also the author/illustrator of THE SPY IN THE MUSEUM, my first authored work due out soon from Simon and Schuster.

Creating books for kids is a unique privilege, and I believe kids deserve smart, beautiful, and meaningful books in their lives.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Firstly, I’d like “non-creatives” to know that they certainly don’t have to stay “non-creative.” Creativity is not an exclusive club. There are no gatekeepers, anyone and everyone can try and fail to make something new in this world that didn’t exist yesterday.

No creative person was born knowing how to do it correctly, we simply got a small sense that making things might be fun or interesting or intrinsically satisfying, and we followed that impulse where it lead.

Every artist that you admire did a thousand terrible drawings before making something of quality. If you feel drawn to a creative pursuit, allow yourself to try it. Creativity takes courage, but how much more of your life do you want to spend NOT making the things you feel drawn to create?

Have you ever had to pivot?

I began my career working as a concept artist/designer at an animation studio, and spent my evenings (and late nights) moonlighting in the world of children’s books. I always thought that I wanted to be employed somewhere full time as an artist as I was very hesitant to become a freelancer, but soon my workload became completely unsustainable. Burnout is a real challenge for artists, and I didn’t like the way I felt with this schedule. For months I saved up money and strategized my switch to a freelance model, and finally quit my job in 2012 to freelance full time. I’ve been a freelancer for over ten years now, and my dream is to just keep creating new books.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.erinmcguire.com
• Instagram: emcguire