Shelley Lekven
Author, Illustrator | San Diego, CA, USA |
Website
When Shelley Daniels Lekven was six, she and her siblings found some old balls of modeling clay and started building a clay town on the dining room table. Their parents, remarkably, let it stay, and Claytown grew to become the centerpiece of their childhoods. After college, Lekven decided to create a children's picture book from a poem she h.... more
When Shelley Daniels Lekven was six, she and her siblings found some old balls of modeling clay and started building a clay town on the dining room table. Their parents, remarkably, let it stay, and Claytown grew to become the centerpiece of their childhoods. After college, Lekven decided to create a children's picture book from a poem she had written called LILY POND. Drawing upon sculpting experience gained in Claytown, she began creating elaborate clay scenes to use as the book's illustrations. Lekven's career as a freelance 3D artist in San Diego, New York and Los Angeles eventually led to her work as a character sculptor on THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and TOY STORY, and as the sculpting supervisor on JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH. Through the years, Lekven continued working on the illustrations for LILY POND as time allowed. From start to finish (with a lot of living in between), LILY POND took thirty-eight years to complete.