A constant supply of drawing materials accompanied Carol Schwartz while growing up in Missouri. She graduated with a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, attending her senior year at Rhode Island School of Design. In 2014 she received her MFA from the University of Hartford, Connecticut. Her illustrations have appeared in over 60 picture books and countless magazines, newspapers and advertisements. 

With a focus on science and nature, a few of the companies Carol has worked with include Scholastic, Hyperion, National Geographic Society, National Wildlife Federation, and The Washington Post. 

Her children’s books have been chosen as Outstanding Science Trade Books by the National Science Teacher’s Association and Children’s Book Council and have been honored with the Children’s Choice Book Award and included in the Original Art exhibition at the Society of Illustrators in New York. Her artwork has been exhibited throughout the country, including Focus on Nature XIV and XV, The Society of Illustrators in New York, and The Illustrator’s Club of Washington DC. Carol’s work is included in the Society of Illustrators permanent collection from the exhibition, Women Illustrators Past and Present. 

Carol’s favorite medium is gouache, an opaque watercolor, although she also works digitally, often taking her gouache paintings into Photoshop where she continues to build and improve on them. Creating textures and detail is characteristic of her style, giving deeper understanding and connection to her subjects.

For many years Carol lived in the Washington, DC area raising a family and managing her illustration business. Life has taken her to a variety of states including Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts, where she taught at a number of colleges. 

Carol now lives in Connecticut where she is Assistant Professor of Illustration at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford and teaches online in Rhode Island School of Design’s Continuing Education Natural Science Certificate Program. Her artistic process and love of nature have been a topic for presentations at elementary schools, libraries, conferences and colleges. 

Carol enjoys co-teaching the workshop, "Seascapes and Landscapes” and being an Artist-In-Residence at the Shoals Marine Laboratory on Appledore Island, Maine where her love of the ocean and art come together through visually documenting her experiences and teaching.

Visit: Carol Schwartz Illustration