Hello! My name is Tracy Nishimura Bishop and I am a children’s book illustrator working in San Jose, CA.

I attended San Jose State University and enrolled in the animation/illustration program because I wanted to become a Disney animator. I quickly discovered that I didn’t like doing animation at all but loved telling stories with illustrations instead. After graduating, I worked as a  designer for ten years at places like Gymboree and the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose.

These days you can find me working at home drawing and painting away. My daily inspirations are my son, husband, and a hairy dog named Harry.

Some facts about me:

• I got hooked on drawing when I won an art contest in Kindergarten.
• I grew up in a U.S. Army base in Japan from the age of 5 through 13.
• As a kid, I LOVED reading lots of Japanese manga instead of English books. This became a problem at school when my Japanese became better than my English.
• I have an ever-growing collection of pencils and pens.