When I was a kid, I loved to draw! But I really never thought I was very good. All my teachers and my family told me that I would be an artist when I was older, but I never believed them! I wanted to be a doctor! I loved science more than anything and I was always doing experiments (some very messy), taking things apart to see what made them work, and building things out of wood (usually using my dad's tools which I would frequently lose... oops!) I never really had a true art class growing up, so I really never learned much about art and absolutely nothing about illustration until much later in my life.

When I was about sixteen, I took some SCUBA diving lessons and became a certified Advanced Open Water diver and decided that maybe instead of being a medical doctor, I would become a marine biologist. I studied Marine Biology (the study of life in the ocean) at the University of Tampa Florida (1979). While I was there, I learned a lot about ocean life. I went SCUBA diving 2 or 3 times a week! It was a blast! I saw sharks, barracuda, live sea sponges, and even got to touch a real manatee! It was GREAT! In class, all the other students would write down notes in their notebooks describing what they had seen, but I always found it much easier for me to remember what I had seen if in my notebook, I drew pictures of all those things. I didn't think my drawings were very good, but I never thought anyone would see them except me. But, someone did. They told the art teachers at the university about my drawings! The art teachers came by to see me one day and asked if I would show them my drawings. I was embarrassed, but I showed them anyway. I thought they were going to tell me how poorly I drew, but instead they said my drawings were great! They talked me into taking an art class and when I did, I found out that I could actually DRAW! Eventually, I left science school and went to a school for artists called the Rhode Island School of Design. I studied about illustration and in 1985 I graduated with a degree in Fine Art.

After graduation from the Rhode Island School of Design, I began illustrating a variety of different things. I worked on projects for Scholastic Magazine, Tennis Magazine, The Boston Review, ComputerWorld, book covers for Viking, Penguin, Peachtree, Irwin, and Hodder and Stoughton publishing companies, and many others. I also did paintings and drawings for people's homes and art galleries throughout the world and has been exhibited in both the New York and Los Angeles Art Expo. I have been the recipient of the Society of Illustrator's "Certificate of Merit" twice and my books have received great reviews and awards such as The Director's Choice Award from Early Childhood News (The Flag We Love).

In 1986, I met a man who would change the direction of my career. Insurance agent by day, self published book author by night, Jerry Pallotta saw one of my brochures for my artwork and decided to contact me about being the illustrator for his second book, The Icky Bug Alphabet. We decided to meet and discuss the project at a pancake house in Needham, Ma. I liked the title so much, I decided to illustrate it. Little did I know how successful it would become. Since it was released, late in 1986, it has sold over a million of copies throughout the world. And it was so successful that Jerry and I continued to work on more and more books and have many more planned for the future.

Soon after working on The Yucky Reptile Alphabet Book in 1987, I was invited to speak to teachers at a summer program the University of Lowell in Massachusetts. I invited Jerry to be my co-speaker and we told them stories of how we worked together and created the books. We were SO nervous because neither of us had done any public speaking about our jobs, but they enjoyed our program so much that we were eventually invited to speak to the children at the schools where they taught. Sometime around 1989, Jerry started calling me "The Ickybugman" and the name has stuck with me ever since!

Since 1987, I have been traveling all across our nation, visiting thousands of schools to speak to children and teachers about my job and what goes into creating an illustrated book. I have had a great time at each school I have been to. Every year, I get thousands of letters and drawings from children and teachers. I am so impressed by their writing and illustrations! I never wrote or drew the way children do today! And I never got to do the great school projects that children get to do today. I suppose I am a bit jealous of the educational opportunities children have today. Their art, music, science, history, social studies, math, and other projects are amazingly creative and make learning a fun and nurturing experience. And sometimes I secretly wish that I could have been a student in one of their classes and be taught by some of the great teachers I have met!

Surf's up!	What's so funny?	A very dirty Ickybugman photo by Stacyracing.com
Not much oxygen at this height! photo by Stacyracing.com

Some people ask me why I like to illustrate children's books.

I get such great letters, pictures, and comments praising me and what I do for a living:
Like the letter written to me that said,

"Dear Mr. Masiello,
You are the best illustrator I know!"
(Her teacher followed that letter with her own that said "You are the ONLY illustrator she knows!")
And the picture a child sent to me that was created to look like an award which read:
"The Beast Illustrator Award" (I like the "beast" part!)
And the great comment I got from a child as I was showing he and his classmates one of myÊoriginal paintings which I had made for a book:
"AWESOME painting, dude!"
Cool! I never get that kind of response from adults!
...and that is why I LOVE illustrating books for children and I always will.

My Hobbies:

In my spare time (the little I have) I like to play with my children, Alexa and Talia. They are the joys of my life. I cannot imagine my life without them.

In December of 2004 my daughter was finally (after 14 years of searching) given a proper diagnosis. Thanks to Dr. Margaret Bauman at Ladders in Wellesley, MA., we now know that Alexa's medical/educational issues are a result of Rett Syndrome (http://rettsyndrome.org/). If you are interested in learning more about this, please click on the link.

Alexa now attends Meeting Street School in Providence RI, where she is a day student in the life skills program. Meeting Street and her teacher, Paula Godin and "Mr. Fred" have done wonders in helping her become more independent. Check out the school's website: MEETING STREET SCHOOL

Alexa underwent a major spinal fusion surgery on March 27th 2006 at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Her stay there was about 3 months and then she went home to a hospital bed. After the surgery, Alexa lost a lot of weight and also the ability to walk. We spent the entire summer teaching her how to walk again. She is now doing great and is healthier and happier than ever!

http://rettsyndrome.org/

Talia at 11 years old!