bio

Awards

Books illustrated

Clients and projects

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"If you notice anything
it leads you to notice
more
and more."

–Mary Oliver

Paul Mirocha's artwork is noted for realism and accuracy as well as its emotional appeal. The poetry is in the details.

During Paul’s formative years in St. Paul, Minnesota, he often found himself in his father's plant pathology lab. While young Paul found science intriguing, he wondered how long he'd be washing test tubes and inoculating bean seedlings with fungal spores.

A little later, when Paul took a break from art school to visit his family’s cabin in the woods, he had a breakthrough. Picking a simple fern leaf, he stared at it long and hard. Naturally, he began to draw it. It was surprisingly difficult. But Paul was blown away by its complex geometry and profound beauty.

Ever since then, Paul has been devoted to rendering the intricacies of the natural and human world, finding in his subjects both scientific interest and aesthetic appeal. Today, he’s lost count of the number of children’s picture books and pop-ups he’s completed since starting his own illustration and design business in 1990. His illustrations and designs have also appeared in numerous adult books, exhibits, magazines, and advertisements of all kinds, as well as on products and product labels. Whether he’s painting a rare desert cactus or a scrumptious-looking candy bar, his work is always accurate, well researched, and realistic—and it has lots of personality, too.

Although Paul has a lifetime of experience with old-school drafting and drawing methods, by now he’s abandoned his railroad pen in favor of Bezier curves, and the old waxer machine for the type tool. If you can’t tell whether the paintbrush he used was digital or sable hair, he figures his work is successful. These days, a classically trained and computer-savvy artist is pretty hard to find.

Paul lives in Tucson with his two artist daughters, Anna and Claire, surrounded by the Sonoran Desert—which inspires his art and spawns his dreams. Besides working as an illustrator, he exhibits his personal photography, drawings, and prints.

He still has that fern drawing stashed away somewhere. (It’s not for sale.)

• Tucson/Pima Arts Council. International Exchange Mini-grant. "Tucson Desert/Malaysian Rainforest," 1999.
• MPBA/Benjamin Franklin Award for Science and the Environment. "The
  Forgotten Pollinators," 1997.
• Arizona Commission on the Arts. Artist’s Project Award. “Rainforest Field Sketching,” 1998.
• Dimensional Illustrators Awards Show. Bronze Award, with Rhod Lauffer, paper engineer. The Boy with Paper Wings book cover and illustrations, 1995.
• Bookbinders’ Guild, New York Book Show. General Trade Cookbooks, first place. "Acorn Pancakes, Dandelion Salad and 38 Other Wild Recipes," 1995.
• Children's Book Council. Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children. "Moon of the Wild Pigs," 1992.
• The Society of Illustrators. inclusion in book, "The Very Best of Children's Book Illustration." 1993
• American Association of Museums. Publication Design Merit Award.University of Arizona Museum of Art institutional brochure, 1992.
• Arizona Press Club. Tucson Tops Addy Awards, gold medal for design. Special supplement to Tucson Weekly, "Return of the Muse," 1991.
• Arizona Humanities Council. Grant for traveling exhibit/poster series. "Singing Down Roots: Plant Folklore of the Desert Southwest," 1989.
• Art Directors Club of New York, 65th Annual show. Certificate of Merit for Illustrations. Gathering the Desert book cover and illustrations (UA Press), 1985.
• John Burroughs Award. Best Natural History Book of 1986, artist and co-author with author Gary P. Nabhan. Gathering the Desert (UA Press), 1985.
• Eberhard Faber, Inc., National Design Art Marker Contest. Illustration prize, first place. "Fiddler Crab" 1980.
  

Selected Books Illustrated

• The Bee Tree, by Diana Cohn and Steve Buchmann, CInco Puntos Press, 2007
• Platypus! by Ginjer L. Clark, Random House, 2004
• Mr. Goethe's Garden, by Diana Cohn, Bell Pond Books, 2003
• Small Wonder, by Barbara Kingsolver, HarperCollins Publishers, 2002
• Hungry Plants, by Mary Batten, Golden Books, 2000
• Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver, 2000
• The Monkey Thief, by Aileen Kilgore Henderson, Milkweed Editions, 1997
• Cactus Café, by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, Soundprints/The Nature Conservancy, 1997
• The Forgotten Pollinators, by Steve Buchmann and Gary P. Nabhan, Island Press, 1996
• How Birds Find Their Way, by Roma Gans, HarperCollins, 1996
• High Tide in Tucson, by Barbara Kingsolver, HarperCollins, 1995
• The Boy with Paper Wings, by Susan Lowell, with paper engineer Rhod Lauffer, Milkweed Editions, 1995
• Acorn Pancakes, Dandelion Salad and 38 Other Wild Dishes, by Jean Craighead George, HarperCollins, 1995
• Animal Camouflage, by Annabelle Donati, Western Publishing/Golden Books, 1995
• Back Off!: Animals Defenses and Look Again!: Animals Disguises(pop-up books), by Paul Mirocha and Rhod Lauffer, W.H. Freeman/Scientific American Books for Young Readers, 1995
• Dinosaur Pop-Up ABC, Simon & Schuster, 1995
• Oil Spill!, by Melvin Berger, HarperCollins, 1994
• Unusual Animals, by Annabelle Donati, Western Publishing/Golden Books, 1993
• Exploring Biomechanics: Animals in Motion, by R.M. Alexander, Scientific American Library, 1992
• Awesome Animal Actions; Freaky Fish Facts; Incredible Insect Instincts; Baffling Bird Behavior (series of pop-up books), HarperFestival, 1992
• Insects, by Molly Marr, Western Publishing/Golden Books, 1992
• Moon of the Wild Pigs, by Jean Craighead George, HarperCollins, 1992

• AAA Living Magazine: maps.
• Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson: illustrations for hummingbird aviary; Life Underground exhibit; cave formation exhibit; pollinator garden exhibit; newsletter.
• Arizona State Parks, Kartchner Caverns: exhibit illustrations and digital production.
• Bill Smith Studio: book illustrations.
• Ceaco/Gamewright: game board illustrations.
• Cisneros Design/ Señor Murphy Santa Fe Candymakers: catalogue illustrations.
• Desert Botanical Garden, Tempe, : illustrations and graphic design for garden trail interpretive exhibit signage (Main Trail, Sonoran Desert Trail, Wildflower Trail).
• Hampton Brown Company, San Antonio: illustrations for educational books.
• Harcourt Brace, Orlando: textbook illustrations.
• HarperCollins Publishers, New York: book illustrations
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: magazine and book illustrations.
• The Larson Company, Tucson: illustrations for interpretive exhibits.
• Ligature, Inc., Chicago: textbook illustrations.
• Massachusetts Horticultural Society/Boston Globe, Boston: Poster series for annual flower show.
• Medical Economics Publishing: book covers and illustrations.
• Meredith Corporation, Des Moines: editorial illustrations.
• Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis: book illustrations and cover designs.
• National Geographic School Publishing: maps and book illustrations.
• North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh: illustrations for new museum interpretive panels.
• Popular Science, Times/Mirror, New York: editorial illustrations.
• Pearson Learning, New York: textbook illustrations.
• Quaker Oats/Downtown Partners: advertisement illustrations.
• Rio Nuevo Publishers: Book designs; cover designs; logo; stationery.
• Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Bugle Magazine: illustrations.
  The Nature Conservancy: illustrations and design for murals at Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve Visitor Center; editorial illustration for TNC Magazine.
• Tucson Botanical Garden: illustrations for and design of tropical greenhouse signage.
• The University of Arizona: Graphic design for brochures, booklets, posters, publications, logos, books and covers; science illustration, maps and charts.
• Uncle Ben's Rice/Catapult Marketing: illustrations.
• University of Arizona Press: illustration and design for book covers.
• Wall Street Journal: editorial illustrations.
• Western National Parks Association: Book, poster, and product design and illustration
• Western Publishing/Golden Books: Book illustrations.
• W.H. Freeman and Company: Book illustrations.
•  

"Got the package. BEAUTIFUL! BEAUTIFUL! BEAUTIFUL! (And everyone else feels the same way.)" —Julian Kabenge, Art Director, The Nature Conservancy Magazine

"As part of the team that included not only Garden scientists and educators, but museum evaluators and visitor studies experts, we found Paul to be very, very flexible, easy to work with, and receptive to new ideas. In addition, he contributed a great deal of himself based on his broad experience not only as an artist, but as a visual communicator with an interest in science." —Ruth Greenhouse, Director of Educational Services, Desert Botanical Garden

"His attention to deadlines and the quality of his work have been superb. The few times we had to ask for changes, they were carried out quickly and cheerfully." —Brenda Wynne, Exhibit Project Coordinator, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

"Gorgeous, gorgeous! It hits just the right note! Thank you, Paul. You are a magician of the best kind." —Linnea Gentry, editor, Rio Nuevo Publishers

"This is beautiful; I like it very much. Simple, but still there's a lot of information there. Great work." —Barbara Kingsolver, author (on illustration for Prodigal Summer)

"Hi, Paul... I'm just calling to tell you I adore the poster. It's gorgeous! Thank you so much. I can't wait to have them all..." —Alison Deming, Director, UA Poetry Center

"The seashells were a huge success and have been approved, which is really unheard of for first passes. You did a great job on them. Thank you so much!" —Noemi Childs, Art buyer, Holt, Rinehart & Winston

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