London Ladd was born and raised in Syracuse, New York. Though comic books impacted his early life, he didn't start drawing until his teens. After graduating high school, London enrolled at Onondaga Community College to learn computer science, but he soon switched majors to focus on art full time. London then transferred to Syracuse University, where he studied drawing, painting, illustration, and design. In 2006 he received his BFA in illustration.

 

London launched his career painting local murals and illustrating magazine articles and album covers. His big break came when he was hired to illustrate the picture book MARCH ON! THE DAY MY BROTHER MARTIN CHANGED THE WORLD (Scholastic), written by Christine King Farris, sister of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  MARCH ON! won the ALA Carnegie Medal and Parents' Choice Approved Award in Historical Fiction and was a 2009 Teachers' Choices booklist selection. London also illustrated Carole Boston Weatherford's OPRAH: The Little Speaker (Two Lions) and Susan VanHecke's UNDER THE FREEDOM TREE (Charlesbridge), a 2014 Junior Library Guild selection.  Clients include Disney/Hyperion, Scholastic, Charlesbridge Publishing, Two Lions (Imprint of Amazon) and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

 

London's subtly textured acrylic paintings combine thick and thin layers with touches of pastel and colored pencil to bring his diverse subjects to life. Each unique image is steeped in intensity and emotion, a reflection of the artist himself. London's varied influences range from comic books and graphic novels to artists N.C. Wyeth, Winslow Homer, Dean Cornwell, James Gurney, and Greg Manchess.

 

London travels often, sharing his passion for books with people of all ages. London has been a featured speaker at the West/Central Upstate New York regional Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and a panelist at the Children's Book Council's Diversity Committee panel "Diversity on the Page, Behind the Pencil, and in the Office" and the Children's Defense Fund Fellows' panel "New Voices: Publishing for the Next Generation." As a member of the Syracuse Public Arts Commission to facilitate and encourage public art in the City of Syracuse.

 

 London has taught art in the Syracuse City School District's Say Yes to Education after-school program since 2011. His goal is to one day open an art center so that families can create and develop their own art.

London lives in Syracuse with his wife and daughter.

London Ladd

• Website: www.londonladd.com/