Hi there. I’m Ward Jenkins. I draw and animate from my home in Portland, Oregon. It’s nice here. I used to live in Atlanta, but moved to the Pacific Northwest in early 2007 to work for LAIKA/house as a director of animated commercials. Since June of 2008, I’ve been on my own and drawing lots of fun stuff for various people and clients.

I live with my photographer/writer wife, Andrea, and together we have two kids: Ava and Ezra.

A few things about me: I love collecting old ephemera, cookbooks, children’s books and whatnot from the 1940’s to the 60’s. I’m a  big fan of mid-century art & design. I also love old school hip-hop and graffiti. Go figure.

I have a blog called The Ward-O-Matic. There, I write about “art, animation, and anything aesthetically pleasing to the eye”. It’s there where you can find out what I’m up to, mostly. I’m also one of the contributors to Drawn!, the popular multi-author blog devoted to art, comics, illustration & animation.

While mostly working in the animation industry since 1996, I also find the time to illustrate and paint. In October of 2008, I experienced my first solo show at the Grassyknoll Gallery in downtown Portland. Titled b-boy, you can view the entire show here.

I recently finished illustrating my very first children’s book. It’ll be out in June of 2009, published by Simon & Schuster. I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. Stay tuned for the official announcement of the book here soon, with a page or two to share.

I have an Etsy store: The Ward-O-Matic Shop. There, you can buy prints and original artwork from me. I sign and mail out everything personally. Right now, I have 5 x7 and 8.5 x 11 inch prints of some of my illustrations for sale, but soon I’ll be selling prints of my b-boy pieces as well.

Feel free to contact me by sending me an email. I’d love to hear from you.

Photo by Andrea, the wife.

All content © Ward Jenkins unless otherwise noted.