Philadelphia illustrator Charles Santore stated out doing editorial illustrations — individual pieces that accompanied articles in periodicals — but once he experienced an assignment to illustrate a children’s book, a new edition of Beatrix Potter’s Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1985, he realized that he much preferred the extended thematic possibilities of book illustration, with multiple images for a single story.
Since then , Santore has contributed his beautifully realized watercolor illustrations to fresh versions of stories like The Wizard of Oz, The Little Mermaid, Aesop’s Fables, The Night Before Christmas, The Velveteen Rabbit and Snow White, among others. The editions with his illustrations have become so popular and beloved, they are essentially modern classics.
I’ve wanted to do a post on Santore’s work for a number of years, but as far as I can determine, he has never had an official web presence.
Times change, however, as does the internet, and I can now at least point you to examples of his work, even if I’m largely dependent on Pinterest boards to do so.
There is a brief interview with Santore on the Library of Congress National Book Festival site, and an account of his talk at the Philadelphia Sketch Club in 2013 on Achilles Portfolio.










Charles Santore (Pinterest board by Lammas Lamb)
Pinterest ("Charles Santore" general search)
Blog of an Art Admirer
Interview on Library of Congress National Book Festival
Wikipedia
Charles Santore page on Amazon
Thanks for your persistence Charley – isn`t this just wonderful work, with such richness of detail that is visually compelling. His confident skill in the use of watercolour is just amazing. I have not been that aware of this illustrator, I`m ashamed to say, but have looked at his available books on Amazon already :)
Thanks, great post !
Thanks, great information along with the beautiful illustrations.
Joyce