Illustration (Major)

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Illustration (Major)
Faculty
Get to know us.

MICA's Illustration faculty are professionals who bring the experience of their award-winning careers to the classroom. We are involved in all major illustration and comics conferences and festivals. Our work is regularly published and exhibited in national and international venues.

Additionally, noted guest speakers discuss their work and critique student work. The department maintains the Julian Allen Illustration Gallery, which displays exhibitions to showcase work by the department's students, illustration alumni, and guest illustrators. And last but not least, the illustration office provides a friendly and relaxing place for students to meet faculty, get advisement, and become an integral part of the department.

Illustration Faculty

Shadra Strickland

Shadra Strickland, Department Chair

Shadra Strickland is an award-winning author and illustrator, renowned for her distinct contributions to children's literature. Her illustrations have graced the pages of works by esteemed authors like Toni Morrison, Renèe Watson, and Delores Jordan. Shadra has been recognized by the American Library Association, earning starred reviews and Youth Media Awards. She proudly received the Ezra Jack Keats Award for her debut book, "BIRD," in collaboration with Zetta Elliott. Shadra has also collaborated with Netflix, The New York MTA, The Brandywine Museum of Art, ACLU of Maryland and The New York Times. Shadra received a B.F.A. from Syracuse University in Communications Design and M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts' Illustration as Visual Essay program.

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Joyce Hesselberth portrait

Joyce Hesselberth, Assistant Chair

Joyce Hesselberth is a writer and illustrator whose children’s books have been published by Henry Holt, HarperCollins, and Chronicle Books. Her book Mapping Sam won a special mention award in the Bologna Ragazzi non-fiction category and was named one of New York Public Library’s Best Books. Her illustrations have appeared in magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, and many others. She holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and a MA from Johns Hopkins University. She and her husband David Plunkert co-founded their studio Spur Design in 1995.

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Allan Comport

Allan Comport has worked in the commercial art industry as an advocate, artist representative, creative director, and instructor. Allan has been a faculty member at MICA since 2002, serving as Illustration Department Chair from 2016–2023. He has worked with scores of notable illustrators, photographers, and designers in a wide variety of ad agencies, design firms, magazines, newspapers, publishers, and corporations internationally as an artist representative at Shannon Associates and C.O.O. of Blue Pixel. Allan has been a guest lecturer for Adobe, the Illustrators Conference, and served as a reviewer in Painting & Illustration for the Fulbright Scholar Program.

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Eduardo Corral

TLaloC (AKA Eduardo Corral) is an award-winning illustrator, interdisciplinary artist, graphic designer and Educator born in the industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico. He holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Illustration, by the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and was recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship in the year 2012. He currently works as a Full-time Teacher in the First Year Experience (FYE) department, in parallel with the Illustration Department at MICA.

Mai Ly Degnan

Mai Ly Degnan is an illustrator and professor based in Baltimore, MD. She holds a BFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design and an MFA in Illustration Practice from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she teaches full-time between both graduate and undergraduate illustration programs. Known for her vibrant colors, intricate patterns, and stylized characters, Mai Ly’s work celebrates the charm of everyday life. Recognized by The Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, and 3x3, her clients include The Huffington Post, Quarto Kids, Cosmopolitan UK, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, HarperCollins, NPR, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and more. When not illustrating, she enjoys time with her husband and their pugs, Uncle Fester and Little Debbie.

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Jia Liu smiling between plants

Jia Liu

Growing up in rural China, Jia had little access to art. However, she always had a huge interest in drawing, which led her to study Illustration at the China Central Academy of Fine Art, and then the Maryland Institute College of Art. She loves to create whimsical, energetic illustrations with rich color and humor. She has illustrated for clients including Penguin Random House, Astra Publishing, Penguin UK, Bloomsbury Publishing, Pearson Education, PlanSponsor, and more. Her work has been recognized by American Illustration, the Society of Illustrators, the World Illustration Awards, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

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Lisa Perrin

Lisa Perrin is an award-winning illustrator, designer, collaborator, entrepreneur, educator, and general mover & shaker. Her work has been recognized by The Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, 3X3 Magazine, and Print Magazine. A proud graduate of the MFA Illustration Practice program, Perrin also holds a BFA in Drawing and Painting and a BA in English from SUNY New Paltz.

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Deanna Staffo

Deanna Staffo is a Philadelphia based illustrator. She received her BFA with honors from the Maryland Institute, College of Art, where she later taught sophomore and junior illustration students.

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José Villarrubia

José Antonio Villarrubia is a Spanish-American artist, editor, and educator known for his significant contributions to the American comic book industry, especially as a colorist. His fine art photography has been showcased in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe, at institutions such as the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Inter-American Development Bank. He edited Hércules 1417, which was awarded Best Edited Book by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. He has received multiple nominations and awards for his comic work, including the 2011 Harvey Award for Best Colorist. Additionally, he serves as the Project Art Director for the Richard Corben Library at Dark Horse.

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Heidi Younger

Illustrator, educator, printmaker and sketchbook enthusiast, Heidi Younger’s career spans 37 years with an active client list including, Madison Square Garden Corporate, Nestlé Corporate, New York Life Insurance Company, Random House, Sarah Lawrence College, New York Times, Wall St Journal, and many magazines. She has many prestigious illustration awards with recognitions from Communication Arts Magazine, Society of Illustrators NYC, Society of Illustrators West, 3x3, and Creative Quarterly. Heidi received a BFA in Graphic Design from School of Visual Arts and an MA in Illustration from Fashion Institute of Technology. She has been teaching illustration since 2005. Originally from New York, Heidi has settled in Baltimore MD with her 2 dogs in the lovely Mt Vernon neighborhood. When she doesn’t have a pen in her hand you can find her submerged in water, swimming two miles a week.

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ADJUNCT FACULTY

Davis Cathcart

G. Davis Cathcart is an illustrator and writer currently residing in Ridgewood, Queens, New York. He has studied art and illustration at the Cooper Union, Maryland Institute College of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and the School of Visual Arts. He has worked for Maira Kalman, William Wegman, and The New Yorker’s Art Department. Davis has taught art to children of all ages in public schools all over New York City. Both RISD and the Society of Illustrators have given him awards for his illustration work. He likes telling cerebral stories that do not take themselves too seriously and tries to subvert the carefree aspects of his writing with the detail of his visuals. He plans to continue to publish his work and teach.

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Mellasenah Edwards

Mellasenah Nicole Edwards is an illustrator and sculptor based in Baltimore, Maryland. Her practice often merges the historical with the fantastical, focusing on themes of folklore and myth. She enjoys writing narrative fiction and bringing her worlds to life in paper, clay, and paint. As a Black, female visual storyteller she aims to diversify the fantasy genre by creating even more space for BIPOC-centered narratives.

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Martha Ericson

Martha Ericson has been a lettering artist for 40 years. Starting as a letterpress printer at the Eucalyptus Press in California, she started doing calligraphy and lettering, first as a freelancer, then as Senior Designer at American Greetings Corp in Cleveland, OH for over 20 years, where handlettering, graphics, illustration and type design were all part of the job. She has taught all over the U.S. and Canada, as part of a roving pod of teachers of handlettering, and at 6 international calligraphy conferences. While at American Greetings, she taught a steady stream of illustrators and designers the fundamentals of lettering design. Still in love with letters, she continues to freelance and teach workshops out of Washington, DC.

John Geyer

John Geyer is an illustrator currently based in Baltimore, MD. They hold a BFA in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where they teach undergraduate illustration courses. Their body of work includes independant comics, product design, and indie game development.

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James Giegerich

Jimmy Giegerich is an illustrator living and working in Baltimore, MD. He’s the creator of the Executioner and Friend cartoon and comics, as well as the I Live in Your Walls, Fight Frogs and Death Knight comic series’. Jimmy's over-the-top, sweaty, veiny, neon work has been seen in everything from Bloomberg Businessweek to the Uncle Grandpa and MadBalls comics, as well as a ton of t-shirts, posters, and album covers.

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Robert Greenberger

Robert Greenberger is a writer and editor with a career that includes staff roles at Starlog Press, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Weekly World News, Famous Monsters of Filmland, and ComicMix. He holds a BA from Binghamton University, an MS from University of Bridgeport, and an MA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has written media tie-in and orgiinal works across genres and for a wide variety of ages. He currently teaches high school English in Laurel, MD in addition to MICA.

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David Inscore

A game industry veteran, Dave is a graduate of MICA and began his career at Microprose Software in 1995, becoming Art Director at Big Huge Games in 2000. There, he led a 26-person art team on titles like Rise of Nations and Rise of Legends, the latter earning Gamespy’s Special Achievement in Art Direction Award. In 2010, he joined Zynga as Art Director, working on FrontierVille and CityVille 2. Since 2014, he has taught concept art at MICA and has spoken at GDC and SCAD’s Game Developer eXchange. In 2018, he became Founder and President of UX is Fine, helping fellow game makers improve their UI and UX development.

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Sarah Jung

Sarah Jung is a Baltimore based author and illustrator. Her work has been featured in notable publications including the Atlantic, Adweek, Adobe and the Brandywine River Museum. Her debut picture book, When Father Comes Home, was published in 2020 with Scholastic, and her second book Our World of Dumplings written by Francie Dekker, in 2022 with Little Bee Books. Her debut graphic novel, Then Comes July is set to be published with Levine & Querido in 2026.

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Adem Kaan

Adem Kaan is an illustrator, designer, and 2D animator specializing in traditional and digital mediums, with a focus on character design and humor-infused art. With a Bachelor's in Illustration from the University of the Arts and a Master’s in Digital Media from Drexel University, he has worked on diverse projects, including 2D animations for children and adults, pitch bibles, mobile game ads, brand guidelines, podcast covers, and event posters. His work has been exhibited in pop-culture galleries in Los Angeles. Based in Philadelphia, Kaan is an independent artist and an adjunct professor at several universities.

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Book Karnjanakit

Book is a cartoonist and illustrator from Bangkok, now living in Baltimore. Every day they are still learning and unlearning about gender, sexuality, environment, and cultural differences. These themes can be found throughout their work. They previously worked with The Washington Post, The Nib, The Baltimore Banner, The Creative Alliance Baltimore, International Committee of the Red Cross, Anchovy Press, Imagine Neighborhood, H.O.P.E., Maryland Institute College of Art, วาดหวังหนังสือ, and more.

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Priyanka Kumar

Priyanka is an illustrator and printmaker from Kolkata, India. Her work spans comics, zines, murals, risograph and silkscreen printing, and artist books. She has an MFA in Illustration Practice from MICA, where she now teaches visual narrative and risograph printmaking, and art directs for two independent publishing projects: Anchovy Press, and South Asian Avant-Garde (SAAG). Priyanka’s graphic stories and comics have featured in multiple anthologies, including the Ignatz-nominated “Bystander: Stories, Observations and Witnessings from South Asia”, “First Hand: Graphic Non-Fiction From India” and “Drawing the Line”. She is also an illustration researcher with a keen interest in south Asian illustration and illustration pedagogy, and has presented her work at the Blind Spots Illustration Research Symposium in 2023, and Prisms: The Education Symposium at ICON: The Illustration Conference 2024.

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Elizabeth Lilly

Elizabeth Lilly (she/her) is an author, illustrator, animator and educator. She is the author-illustrator of two picture books, and the illustrator of two others. Her books have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, been named Publisher’s Weekly’s Best Book of 2021, and have earned starred reviews as well as the Junior Library Guild Selection. When she’s not creating stories, she teaches illustration, animation and drawing as an adjunct professor and lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

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Yifan Luo

Yifan Luo is a Baltimore-based visual storyteller and educator who specializes in editorial narratives, comics, and slices of life that explore current events, sustainability, and personal stories. She received her MFA in Illustration Practice from MICA, where she currently teaches part-time, and her BA from Brown University. Her clients and collaborators include The Nib, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Banner, Crucial Comix, and Eater, among others.

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Normandie Luscher

Normandie enjoys bright, colorful and decorative illustration as well as narrative illustration that tell rich and interesting stories.

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Carla Speed McNeil

Carla Speed McNeil is an American science fiction writer, cartoonist, and illustrator of comics, best known for the science fiction comic book series Finder

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Danielle Nekimken

Danielle Nekimken is a multi-media designer bringing stories to life in exhibitions and live events. Her clients include the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Center for History and Culture, Baltimore Museum of Industry, The Jewish Museum of Maryland, Indiana State Museum and Port Discovery Children’s Museum. Her exhibition, Women of Steel, at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, was awarded an AASLH Award of Excellence. Danielle received a BFA in Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She is an adjunct professor at MICA and runs an independent design studio.

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Patrick O'Brien

Patrick O’Brien has been a full-time illustrator and artist since 1985. His art has appeared in magazines and newspapers, on posters and greeting cards, and even on billboards. Patrick is the author and illustrator of twelve picture books for children. These are non-fiction books about historic and prehistoric subjects, such as knights, pirates, ships, and dinosaurs. In 2003 Patrick became a marine art painter. He has had prestigious solo-exhibitions and has won many of the top awards. In 2024 he was elected President of the American Society of Marine Artists.

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Danlin Zhang

Danlin is an award-winning illustrator based in New York. She received her MFA degree at SVA Illustration as Visual Essay and a BFA degree in MICA's Illustration departmen. She primarily focuses on book, editorial, and advertising categories, with clients including the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Wall Street Journal, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Tencent QQ, Hennessy, CEMÔY skincare.

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