Meet Brooklyn-based Illustrator Doug Salati

May 11, 2021

Meet Brooklyn-based Illustrator Doug Salati

We were so lucky to collaborate with Brooklyn-based illustrator Doug Salati for our butterfly life cycle book. We first met Doug when he bought some of our ornaments in the Union Square holiday market, and we’ve been friends ever since. His book In a Small Kingdom by Tomie DePaola is one of my kids’ favorites.

Doug making the first sketches for our life cycle booklet.

Doug used a layering technique inspired by printmaking for our Butterfly Life Cycle Booklet and downloads. He sketches the outlines and texture of his drawings in pencil, which he then scans into the computer. Doug then adds digital plates of color.

This time-consuming technique gives his illustrations a depth and texture reminiscent of stone lithography. The Life Cycle downloads feature his pencil sketches.

Doug scans his pencil drawing into his computer, and then adds digital plates of colors and light.

Doug grew up in central New York and studied art and illustration at Skidmore College and RIT. He received his MFA at the School of Visual Arts and was a 2015 Sendak Fellow. His second book, Lawrence in the Fall by Matthew Farina, was a 2020 Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award Honoree, a Society of Illustrators Original Art Show selection and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection. He lives and works in Brooklyn, and is currently working on a new book, Hot Dog, to be released in 2022. More of his illustration work can be seen here.

Purchasing Doug’s Books: Lawrence in the Fall, written by Matthew Farina, and In a Small Kingdom, by Tomie dePaola, are available for purchase everywhere. Independent bookstores work hard to support authors and illustrators. Please consider buying in person or online from your local indie! Find them here. If you are looking for a quick amazon link, please find In a Small Kingdom here, and Lawrence in the Fall here. They are amazing books, and so worth it.