FROM HOBBY to DREAM JOB

How a love of art became a career

There are a lucky few in this world who can say they’ve built a career doing what they genuinely love. Local illustrator and children’s book author, Stacy Ebert, is one of those people. The self-taught artist turned her passion for creating realistic drawings of people into her dream job.

Ebert has loved art since a young age, and while she felt called to create, she says the timing never felt right to consider drawing as a career option. She instead learned graphic design at Central Lakes College before enrolling in the elementary education program at Bemidji State. Ebert later worked as a graphic designer before eventually devoting her time to being a homeschool mom.

It wasn’t until six years ago that something changed, and the timing nally felt right. So, Ebert set out to turn her passion into a career, with the ultimate goal of writing and illustrating children’s books.

“I felt like it was a converging of experiences and interest I had throughout my life. The lightbulb just sort of came on and I knew that I needed to make books for kids,” she recalls. “Everything that I pursued personally and professionally were things that just made being a children’s book illustrator and writer make perfect sense for me.”

As any entrepreneur knows, the path to success is rarely easy. There are always obstacles along the way, resulting in detours and setbacks. Ebert understood that from the start. She went into her pursuit with eyes wide open and a willingness to face challenges head-on. She spent a lot of time honing her cra in what she calls the “re ning and de ning” stage.

“I treated what was probably considered by most to be a hobby as a full-time business,” Ebert explains. “I went to conferences, I got critical feedback from esteemed art directors, agents, authors, illustrators; you name it. I worked super hard on my art, making professional connections and reading.”

Ebert eventually reached a place where she was ready to share her art with the world and began submitting her work to agents. Her hard work paid o when she was signed by the rst agent she pitched. However, matching with the right agent was important to Ebert, and she made a few moves before signing with her current agent.

Her rst book deal was with Simon and Schuster, illustrating a middle-grade book by Frances O’Roark Dowell called “How to Build a Story ... or, the Big What If.” Her most recent book deal is with Penguin Random House, which includes illustrating two children’s books by New York Times best-selling author Kelly Corrigan. The rst of the two was released in April. “Hello World!” encourages young readers to make quality connections with other people by asking questions.

“I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect first picture book than ‘Hello World!’ It’s just a beautiful message and a tting title to open your career with,” Ebert says. “I loved being part of telling a story that inspires readers to see others as so much more than what meets the eye.”

While she’s currently focused on her second book with Kelly Corrigan, Ebert hopes to publish her own children’s books in the future. She’s pretty close to making that dream come true, having created full mock-ups of picture books that she’s both written and illustrated.

Reaching this point has been a long time coming, but Ebert wouldn’t change it. Every challenge was worth it to see kids holding her book with big grins on their faces. “I get to spend my time doing something that focuses on the positive, happy aspects of this world; the things that unite people. What’s better than that?” [ aw ]

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