Vincent X. Kirsch

Vincent X. Kirsch is an author, illustrator and designer living in Los Angeles. He has lived in Florence (Italy), New York City and Boston. His illustrations are created in a two-dimensional adaptation of this paper cut toy theaters that he has been building for most of his life. His work is very influenced by theater, puppetry, poster art, classical painting techniques and Hollywood films. His whimsical character designs and storylines range from the fantastically out-of-this-world to inspiringly down-to-earth.

The black and white, as well as color work, appeared regularly on the pages of The New York Times Book Review & Op-Ed pages, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and a wide array of magazines.

Coincidentally, the work on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times landed Mr. Kirsch a three-year job designing and directing the windows of Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue. His work with mannequins and small window spaces lead to the creation of three-dimensional characters and revived a fascination with puppetry and Victorian toy theaters.

An editor at BloomsburyUSA discovered one of Mr. Kirsch’s illustration style in The New York Times Book Review and thought it a perfect match for children’s books. A small doodle she noticed in his sketchbook of two zany sisters inspired him to create “the greatest department store in the world” for his first book.