In elementary school Eric Rohmann ’80, M.S. ’85, drew dinosaurs, monsters, and knights, as well as fanciful machines. His imagination was influenced by authors he read as a boy: Wanda Gag, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Maurice Sendak, and J. R. R. Tolkien.
Now youngsters are reading Rohmann’s books, finding inspiration in the stories and illustrations that have placed him among the elite of children’s literature authors.
Children’s author Eric Rohmann.
One of his books, My Friend Rabbit, received the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 2003. The honor recognizes the most distinguished children’s picture book published in the U.S. in a given year. His first book, Time Flies, was rejected 15 times before being published by Roaring Brook Press. It subsequently was named a Caldecott Honor book.
“It proved I could make a book that kids would want to read,” Rohmann said of the wordless picture book that tells the tale of a bird trapped in a dinosaur exhibit at a natural history museum. The bird enters a dinosaur’s mouth and eventually escapes as the story unfolds through images so stellar that Time Flies became a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was named Best Children’s Book by The New York Times Book Review.
His success came as no surprise to faculty at Illinois State’s School of Art, where Rohmann enrolled as an undergraduate in the late 1970s. The skills he developed while growing up in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove impressed Professor of Art Emeritus Harold Boyd, who became Rohmann’s mentor.
Boyd recalls meeting Rohmann during his junior year in a printmaking class. Rohmann’s talent and creativity were apparent immediately, as well as his “root in the traditional skills.” Rohmann’s interest in writing and illustrating intersected with Boyd’s, and their connection as teacher/student continued as Rohmann completed a master’s degree in studio art.
Rohmann made wonderful paintings, said Boyd, who taught studio art for about 35 years. A few years ago they collaborated in a mentor/student exhibition at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. Boyd exhibited as Rohmann’s mentor, and Rohmann exhibited with a student he himself had mentored.
Other faculty also inspired Rohmann, including Professor of Biology Emerita Lauren Brown; Professor of Art James Butler; Professor of Art Emeritus Louis Steinburg; and College of Fine Arts Professor Ray George, who is now deceased.
Richard Finch, another of Rohmann’s ISU art professors, recalled that “Eric was an excellent student and I enjoyed having him in my classes. He’s kind, intelligent, talented, generous with his time, and he always makes me laugh.”
Rohmann especially remembers his printmaking class, which got him interested in lithography and bookmaking. He went on to complete a second master’s in printmaking/fine bookmaking at Arizona State University. Steinburg’s painting class engendered his love for making paintings. But Boyd was most influential, encouraging Rohmann’s interest in telling stories with pictures.
“Pictures are a language in themselves,” said Rohmann, who was attracted to illustrating books for young children because “things can happen in picture books you don’t expect.”
Stories and pictures have to communicate. Rohmann has mastered the craft in his books that target youngsters age 8 and younger. He wrote and illustrated The Cinder-Eyed Cats, Pumpkinhead, Clara and Asha, and A Kitten Tale. He writes and draws the pictures as the storyline develops. The narrative comes to life with the addition of universal cues in his illustrations, such as frowning eyebrows.
The results are enthralling. One critic describes The Cinder-Eyed Cats as “a sumptuous feast for the eye and a virtuoso feat of picture storytelling.” Clara and Asha, which has been translated as Clara y Asha, is heralded as “a captivating book about the special world of a child’s imagination—where a giant fish might come to visit, and the things you do and the things you feel with an imaginary friend are intensely real.”
Illustration from Rohmann’s 1994 book “Time Flies.”
Rohmann also illustrates texts written by others, including King Crow and The Prairie Train. In his most recent book, Last Song, Rohmann’s watercolor paintings enrich an old Scottish poem. His work is in the permanent collections of several institutions across the U.S. and in Europe. But it’s the world of children’s literature that remains his passion.
“I make books for kids because they are the best audience: children are curious, enthusiastic, impulsive, generous and pleased by simple joys. They laugh easily at the ridiculous and are willing to believe the absurd,” Rohmann said. “Children are not ironic, disillusioned or indifferent, but hopeful, open-minded and openhearted, with a voracious hunger for pictures.”
He still makes fanciful drawings—perhaps successors of the dinosaurs and monsters he himself drew as a child—in workshops and presentations he enjoys bringing to elementary schools. With a quickly added line or circle of a felt-tip marker, the white board teems with sharks, pigs, and other fanciful animals, enthralling children and entertaining adults.
Rohmann has always loved to draw. He was a huge fan of Universal monster movies and comic books as a youth. By the time he was in high school, his drawings were of complex space battles and animals.
He began to recreate what he observed as a high school volunteer in the Brookfield Zoo’s children’s section. Cleaning enclosures and feeding the animals inspired remarkably accomplished drawings.
These early works reveal the genesis of Rohmann’s fascination with animals. He originally minored in biology and anthropology at Illinois State, studies that reinforced his perception of the connection between science and art.
Rohmann’s Illinois State ties remain strong. He connected with his former art professor, Richard Finch, above, after speaking at an event at Normal Public Library in the fall.
“The reason I draw is because I want to know what’s going on in the world,” he said, explaining that a picture is like a still from a movie. It’s part of a narrative structure, and he views each picture similar to a film director considering a scene.
Perhaps that explains why the print rooms in the Center for Visual Arts became one of Rohmann’s favorite places as a student on campus. “I spent a huge amount of my life in them,” he recalled.
“The art faculty and students formed a community. We may have disagreed on a lot, but in the end we supported one another with our enthusiasm for the work being made by all of us,” Rohmann said. “The core group of people I went to grad school with are still somehow involved in the arts.”
The 2004 recipient of Illinois State’s Alumni Association Achievement Award, Rohmann’s ties to Illinois State remain strong. “Life is like a circle, I keep finding my way back here,” he said of his frequent visits to campus to share his work experiences with students.
Rohmann has fond memories of his days in Walker Hall. He proudly proclaims that not only did his floor—2 North—win the flag football and softball championships, but they also had the highest GPA. He enjoyed working as a receptionist in Dunn-Barton.
His illustrations give animals personality, as seen in the cover of his 1997 book “The Cinder-Eyed Cats.”
His role as graduate advisor for New Friends of Old Time Music and the Entertainment Committee is another fond memory because he interacted with all kinds of performers, such as Steve Goodman and Phil Collins. “MTV was just kicking in, and we got bands you wouldn’t normally have seen here,” Rohmann recollected.
The years since those collegiate days have proven to Rohmann that you can make a living pursuing your passion. Now living in Oak Park with children’s author Candace Fleming, Rohmann enjoys traveling. He has been on the faculty of schools in Massachusetts and Minnesota, and taught with Fleming in Korea and Singapore. He’s often outdoors with binoculars, observing and being inspired by the world around him.
And he always makes his way back to his artist’s studio, which he acknowledges is his sanctuary and playground. “I like what I do even if it’s not easy and even when I fail,” Rohmann said. “I am serious about my work, but I never let that seriousness interfere with creativity and the joy of making art.”
