Bryan Ballinger has been a freelance illustrator and author for over 15 years. He graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, in 1990 with a degree in Illustration. He also has a master's degree in Writing for Children from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. After moving to Seattle in 1991 and conducting freelance projects for companies such as Nintendo Power magazine, he started working at Microsoft as an illustrator. He was lead illustrator for the first version of the award-winning Encarta CD-ROM encyclopedia as well as the Explorapedia children's encyclopedia series. Bryan was the 3D Design Lead for five years at Big Idea Productions, the producers of the VeggieTales® children's videos and books. Now working in a freelance capacity, Bryan creates delightful, whimsical illustrations for children's books, websites, games, videos, and ads. Clients include: Scholastic, Harper Collins Zondervan, Houghton Mifflin, Hampton Brown, McGrawHill, Multnomah Publishers, MacMillan Publishing, Microsoft, Nintendo, Big Idea Productions (VeggieTales®), PC Family Magazine, Disney, Harley Davidson, Nabisco, and ConAgra Foods.