| Heck, Ed 1963-Â…Born 1963, in Brooklyn, NY; son of an artist. Education: School of Visual Arts, B.F.A. Author, artist, and graphic designer. American Museum of Natural History, designer and illustrator; freelance illustrator. Illustrator Ed Heck began working on his pop art through late-night doodling, taking his simple drawings and learning to silk-screen the doodles he designed. "I enjoyed doing them and had more and more fun with them," Heck explained to Kathleen Sullivan in Art Business News. "From there, it all just snowballed." Throughout his childhood, Heck had received encouragement for his artistic efforts from teachers as well as from his parents. His father was also an artist, and the two spent time together drawing and analyzing their work. "He was my biggest fan," Heck told Sullivan. A career as a professional graphic artist as well as author/illustrator of the children's book Monkey Lost was the eventual result. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts, Heck found work illustrating children's books and working as a scientific illustrator. Among other jobs, he worked for the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois, where he designed a stance and posture for "Sue," the world's best-known Tyrannosaurus Rex. The images Heck created later appeared in A Dinosaur Named Sue Sticker Book, which was published as a joint effort between Scholastic and the Field Museum. Though much of his scientific illustration has been geared toward adults, Heck also illustrated the nonfiction picture book Dinosaurs. |
