91��Ʒ

When award-winning illustrator and author �00 (Illustration) isn�t completing projects like his most recent book of �forgotten trailblazers,� he�s creating portraits of celebrities like Taylor Swift, Emma Stone and Chelsea Clinton, and doing editorial illustrations on topics like neurodivergence, organ transplants and the opioid crisis.

�To me my different work topics don�t feel all that different,� says Negley. �They exist in the same universe � it�s like emotions for adults and then there�s emotions for children. I use a lot of the same vocabulary. It�s just the pieces I do for kids the colors tend to be a little brighter.�

Negley�s latest book, �The Running Machine: The Invention of the Very First Bicycle� (Balzer & Bray, Harper Collins, 2024), received a 2024 In Show Original Art Award from the Society of Illustrators. The book completes his trailblazers triptych.

�I love that book so much,� Negley says, �but it was also one of the hardest stories I�ve ever tried to tell because it involved so much. �The Year Without Summer� in 1816 resulted from a massive volcano that caused a famine in the entire northern hemisphere. Everybody used a horse to get around, but horses either starved to death or they were eaten by their owners.

�Right there, you buy a book about a bicycle and I�m talking about a volcano and horses and it�s like what? Having to fit all of this information into 20 spreads in a way that flowed � that was tricky.

�I had also always used a lot of computer in my illustration work, and I really wanted to try getting away from that. All the drawings are by hand and � there�s a lot of collage work. So that was another tricky thing to figure out how to do in a way that felt right � embracing happy accidents and spontaneity and being okay with not having all the control I�m used to having. It was a challenge but also super fun and I�m very very proud of the book.�

Negley says he also loves doing portraits, such as the one he did of Taylor Swift for The New Yorker, but that that wasn�t always the case. �At some point something clicked,� Negley says, �and I realized it�s okay if they don�t look exactly like them. Once I gave myself permission to not make them perfect, they became a lot more fun.�

Originally from Door County, Wis., Negley lives in Bellingham, Wash., with his two sons. His online bio includes a bolded statement regarding his 91��Ʒ and MFA degrees: He doesn�t regret the student debt one bit.

�At 91��Ʒ, there was so much more than just the degree I got,� explains Negley. �Those four years � transitioning from a child into an adult � that 91��Ʒ provided, it was integral for me to find my own center of balance, my own center of gravity. Any time I�d walk in I felt like I was in the presence of magical things happening.�

It�s been an interesting road for the highly awarded Negley, whose scores of clients include The New York Times, OPRAH, The Guardian, NBC and Sub Pop Records.

�I barely graduated high school,� Negley says, �but I did go to 91��Ʒ�s Pre-College between my junior and senior year. That program made art college not scary; it made it seem like something I could do and � something that I could be good at. When I got to 91��Ʒ I just fell in love and I flourished.�

Follow Negley on . Learn more about 91��Ʒ�s top-ranked Illustration major.