BIO

JAIME ZOLLARS began making art at a young age, but her illustration career didn't take off until second grade, when she started drawing unicorns on friends’ Trapper Keepers for shiny nickels. She went on to draw local library brochures and elaborate student council campaign ephemera, quickly sealing her fate. To make it official, Jaime spent seven years in college, earning a BA in photography from UMBC in 1999, and a BFA in Illustration from the Art Center College of Design in 2003.

While waiting for her first illustration jobs, Jaime worked as an extra on movie sets, tried out for every game show imaginable, and went for runs on the beach, because this is what people do in Los Angeles. Five game show appearances and a first (and last) marathon later - she was making art full-time.

Jaime has illustrated children’s books, magazines, newspapers, and ad campaigns. Her clients include Little, Brown Books for Young readers, United Airlines, Random House, The American Red Cross, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Clarion Books, Quarry Books and the L.A. Weekly. She has also created artwork for galleries including Copro Nason, Gallery Nucleus, and Giant Robot.

Jaime’s art has been recognized by a bunch of great publications and societies, including Taschen’s Illustration Now, American Illustration, Communication Arts, The Society of Illustrators, 3x3, Spectrum, Curvy Australia, Design Taxi, XFuns Taipei, DPI Taiwan, BBC’s Culture Shock, Small Magazine, Creative Quarterly, the SI-LA, and the SCBWI.

Jaime happily lives and works in Newbury Park, California with her dashing husband, sarcastic 16-year-old boy, and sunny 11-year-old girl. While in Baltimore, Jaime was lucky enough to teach up-and-coming art superstars in both the MFA and undergraduate illustration programs at MICA (The Maryland Institute College of Art). Jaime has also served on several boards, including the Los Angeles SCBWI, the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles, and The Illustration Conference (ICON).

Jaime is inspired by fairy tales and Flemish painters, non-fiction books, forgotten paper, found textures, and flea market photographs. When she isn’t painting for commercial clients or gallery walls, you’ll probably find her eating eclairs, taking an improv class, reading up on North Korea, making mechanical paper toys, eating more eclairs, or driving her children to and from all of those activities she said she'd never drive her kids to and from.

SELECTED CLIENTS
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, United Airlines, The American Red Cross, Random House, Greenwillow Books, Scholastic, Henry Holt & Co, Clarion Books, Marshall Cavendish Books, Potter Books, Tricycle Press, Sterling Books, Lark Books, Quarry Books, Albert Whitman & Co, Cloudy Co., Red Cap Cards, and the Los Angeles Weekly, Highlights, and Cricket Publications.

RECOGNITION/ANNUALS
Society of Illustrators
Communication Arts
American Illustration
3x3 International Annual
The Original Art Show, Society of Illustrators
Spectrum
Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor for Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale
Gold Medal, Society of Illustrators Los Angeles
SCBWI, National Conference Portfolio Award
The Illustrator’s Club of DC/MD/VA

She has also been honored to be a judge for:
The Society of Illustrators Annual | Book Category
The Society of Illustrators | Zankel Award
The Society of Illustrators Los Angeles Annual Competition
The 3x3 Children’s Book Annual Competition
The Houston Art Director’s Club Awards
and The Illustrator’s Club of DC/MD/VA

LECTURES AND PANELS
Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design | Guest Speaker
Seattle Pacific University | Guest Speaker
Pennsylvania College of Art and Design | Guest Critic
Maryland Institute College of Art | Guest Critic
Savannah College of Art and Design | Guest speaker and critic | Atlanta, GA
SCBWI Carolinas Fall Conference | Charlotte | Welcome to my World
Conference of Creative Entrepreneurs | San Francisco
Solo Lecture: Passion as Marketing: Game Changing Ideas to Recharge, Refocus, and Make People Care
Panels: A Day in the Life of Academia and Creative Collaboration: Don’t DIY Alone.
Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators | Regional Summer Conference, Creating Sparks | Frederick, MD
Summit of Awesome | Baltimore | Panel: Your Craft in Galleries with Diane Koss
Art Director’s Club of Houston | An Evening with the Judges, presentation of my illustration work | Houston. TX
Society for History and Graphics | Baltimore | Lecture: D.I.Y. Revisited
MICA | Guest Artist and Critic | Senior Seminar
Summit of Awesome | Washington D.C. | Working with Galleries
Society of Illustrators Los Angeles | Marketing for Book Illustrators
Society of Illustrators Los Angeles | Panel: Pricing Session
SCBWI Los Angeles | Creative Marketing for Illustrators

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND INTERVIEWS

Info

Newbury Park, CA
jaime@jaimezollars.com
626.354.5938

Twitter: jaimezollars
Facebook: jaimezollarsart

jaime zollars

RT @BriarPatchBooks: Mesmerize dreamers young and old with a mythological romp to the top of the world and back again in THE NIGHT FROLI… https://t.co/FqNGWXp9je
Mar 5, 2023, 6:45 PM
jaime zollars

EVERY dang time I start a project I'm disappointed with the first pass of sketches. BUT! I must remind myself that… https://t.co/DJJcpOaxt3
Mar 3, 2023, 1:56 PM
jaime zollars

RT @JulieBerryBooks: Happy birthday to THE NIGHT FROLIC! @jaimezollars’s illustrations are breathtaking. We hope FROLIC makes a perfect… https://t.co/n6rrTLzYre
Feb 28, 2023, 5:18 PM
jaime zollars

RT @lbschool: Happy #bookbirthday to THE NIGHT FROLIC by @JulieBerryBooks and @jaimezollars! Watch our latest Book Chat with the… https://t.co/76JwTvRswp
Feb 28, 2023, 10:02 AM
jaime zollars

SURE, there are tons of picture books being compared to Where the Wild Things Are, but how many are also reviewed a… https://t.co/B4ll3WQu9Q
Feb 22, 2023, 8:50 PM