Carol Heyer
Biography By a friend (because Carol tends to take herself for granted)
Imagine starting from a blank canvas and coming up with this.
or this
It all started when Carol Heyer was a tiny girl. Her mother, Merlyn was gifted, with her own right brain creative side and was well known as a member of the Hutson Sisters, a close harmony singing group immensely popular in India. Merlyn saw her own special creative spark in her daughter as well, and set about nurturing Carol’s fertile imagination. They spent at least a part of every day in the Faerie Garden. “Ours was a partnership. When we were in the garden, my mother always treated me as if I was a grown-up. We’d pick an area in the back yard and she would smooth down the dirt for the faeries to dance on. Together we’d look for leaves that were just skeletons, as these were the leaves the faeries made themselves, and thus were magical. Faerie clothes were made from rose petals, and their furniture from small twigs that we held together with shafts of grass or vine. Finally, when we’d finished preparation for their party, bread and cookie crumbs were left out for snacks. We’d include any little bead or bauble to attract them, as, of course, they only came at night to dance.”
“The next morning I’d hurry outside to find that the crumbs were gone. Petals and little scuff marks were strewn about. I swear I saw perfect little footprints on the dance floor, and always concluded that the faeries had indeed enjoyed themselves in the night. I so believed,” Carol grins.
Her father and mother, William J. and Merlyn M. Heyer were great influences in their daughter’s life. She credits the success of her freelance career to the support her parents gave her. This support in turn allowed her to take “the road less traveled, which has made all the difference” and, the most wonderful thing of all, the opportunity to write and paint the things she loves. “It is from both my parents that I learned to trust myself.”
Carol’s work is recognized for its stunning realism and rich, vibrant color, developed when she was a young student, first at Moorpark College, and then at California Lutheran University. The recipient of grants and scholarships, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Before beginning her freelance career Carol worked for a movie production company as production designer and writer of feature films, including Thunder Run, a film released by Cannon Films and May Day, a direct release to video.
As her assignments and accolades mounted, her parents encouraged her to start her own business. She launched “The Touchmark” in 1992, and has never looked back. Her art has appeared on everything from book covers to bookmarks. She has done work for BAEN BOOKS, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, RAY BRADBURY, SCHOLASTIC, PENGUIN PUTNAM/Henry Winkler, and many others.
Carol is the recipient of countless awards, among them;
SPECTRUM, The International Competition for Fantastic Art
PRINT’S Regional Design Annual
The Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
CHESLEY Award Nominations
Her biography has appeared in WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA, WHO’S WHO IN THE WORLD, CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS, etc.
Carol has written/illustrated twenty-eight children’s picture books. Her most recent projects were “ THE LITTLE SHEPHERD’S CHRISTMAS” , “ONCE UPON A ROYAL SUPER BABY” and "HUMPHREY'S FIRST PALM SUNDAY".
Well Over Two Million of Carol's Picture Books have been sold.
In 2011
Now Carol continues to wow her audience. Humphrey’s first Christmas is not the first book she has both written and illustrated, but it is her first original story and strikes a chord as one of the most popular Christmas Children’s books to hit the marketplace in the last decade. No wonder! As a young high school student, Carol literally ‘hung out at Jungleland, a facility that housed movie animals in Thousand Oaks California, near her home. She loved the camels in particular, and took to drawing them, literally for hundreds of hours. When she developed the story about the camel that carries gifts to the newborn Christ child, the face of Humphrey had been long-fixed in her mind. In the Christmas season of 2010, the paperback version of Humphrey’s First Christmas literally sold out, and Carol happily experienced writer’s cramps from signing at book fairs.
Written by Mary Weyand
Children's Writer
http://www.marymartinweyand.com
“The next morning I’d hurry outside to find that the crumbs were gone. Petals and little scuff marks were strewn about. I swear I saw perfect little footprints on the dance floor, and always concluded that the faeries had indeed enjoyed themselves in the night. I so believed,” Carol grins.
Her father and mother, William J. and Merlyn M. Heyer were great influences in their daughter’s life. She credits the success of her freelance career to the support her parents gave her. This support in turn allowed her to take “the road less traveled, which has made all the difference” and, the most wonderful thing of all, the opportunity to write and paint the things she loves. “It is from both my parents that I learned to trust myself.”
Carol’s work is recognized for its stunning realism and rich, vibrant color, developed when she was a young student, first at Moorpark College, and then at California Lutheran University. The recipient of grants and scholarships, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Before beginning her freelance career Carol worked for a movie production company as production designer and writer of feature films, including Thunder Run, a film released by Cannon Films and May Day, a direct release to video.
As her assignments and accolades mounted, her parents encouraged her to start her own business. She launched “The Touchmark” in 1992, and has never looked back. Her art has appeared on everything from book covers to bookmarks. She has done work for BAEN BOOKS, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, RAY BRADBURY, SCHOLASTIC, PENGUIN PUTNAM/Henry Winkler, and many others.
Carol is the recipient of countless awards, among them;
SPECTRUM, The International Competition for Fantastic Art
PRINT’S Regional Design Annual
The Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles
The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators
CHESLEY Award Nominations
Her biography has appeared in WHO’S WHO IN AMERICA, WHO’S WHO IN THE WORLD, CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS, etc.
Carol has written/illustrated twenty-eight children’s picture books. Her most recent projects were “ THE LITTLE SHEPHERD’S CHRISTMAS” , “ONCE UPON A ROYAL SUPER BABY” and "HUMPHREY'S FIRST PALM SUNDAY".
Well Over Two Million of Carol's Picture Books have been sold.
In 2011
Now Carol continues to wow her audience. Humphrey’s first Christmas is not the first book she has both written and illustrated, but it is her first original story and strikes a chord as one of the most popular Christmas Children’s books to hit the marketplace in the last decade. No wonder! As a young high school student, Carol literally ‘hung out at Jungleland, a facility that housed movie animals in Thousand Oaks California, near her home. She loved the camels in particular, and took to drawing them, literally for hundreds of hours. When she developed the story about the camel that carries gifts to the newborn Christ child, the face of Humphrey had been long-fixed in her mind. In the Christmas season of 2010, the paperback version of Humphrey’s First Christmas literally sold out, and Carol happily experienced writer’s cramps from signing at book fairs.
Written by Mary Weyand
Children's Writer
http://www.marymartinweyand.com