© Illustrator Erin Hunter (provided)By: Amy Kehm
akehm@abcnews4.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV) -- Have you opened your children's books and wondered who created the colorful, detailed illustrations? Erin Hunter can take credit for many of them.
After beginning her career as a graphic artist Hunter completed a specialize degree in science illustration. Though her background was not in science, Hunter was helped along the way by fellow students who began in science fields.
"You just learn as you go," Hunter said during an appearance on Lowcountry Live.
Hunter now describes herself as both a children's book and scientific illustrator, specializing in entomological and botanical illustrations. She works with the Lowcountry's Sylvan Dell Publishing. Recent works includes The Great Divide, Multiply on the Fly and A Day on the Mountain.
She explained that the process begins when she receives a manuscript from the publisher. Then, Hunter goes page by page creating sketches. Finally, the sketches become acrylic paintings.
"Some of them take longer than others," Hunter said. "You can tell which ones are more complicated than others."
In addition to creating illustrations, Hunter has taught botanical illustration and field sketching at the University of California at Santa Cruz. She lives on California's Monterey Peninsula.
