When Victor was in grade school the art teacher guided the class in creating a three dimensional paper turtle through the means of cutting and creasing and gluing. Thrilled at the possibilities of making a sculpture of an animal from two pieces of paper he was excited to think of what else he might be able to create with simple resources. His mother and father were rather poor but very resourceful. That day ended with a little boy carefully fostering home his paper turtle to show his mom, but it was also the dawn of a life of exploring and enjoying art.

 

Victor was born and raised near the edge of acres and acres of woods in the low income housing project on the east side of Luverne, a small, south Alabama town in Crenshaw county. There he grew up exploring, with his six brothers and sisters, the vast woods and fields behind his neighborhood. Through an otherwise pleasant upbringing, much loved by his family, his youth held bouts of undiagnosed depression, unresolved reading and learning disabilities and paralyzing insecurities. He nevertheless became somewhat popular with his teachers and peers as the class artist. In middle school and high school he received encouraging awards for his paintings and drawings. He suffered in his grades but managed somehow to graduate.

 

He followed high school with two years at a state Jr. College and brought his grades up enough to be accepted at Auburn University where he took three more years of college courses to graduate with a BA in Graphic Design with a concentration on Illustration. His senior project received an “A Commended” from his instructors. 

 

After graduating he moved to Atlanta and took a job with a magazine publisher and spent four years illustrating and designing for various magazines. The last two of those years he redesigned and Art Directed two different health foods magazines. Growing restless, he pursued more of a challenge and soon found a promising job with a new audio/video company as a graphic designer. There he served as assistant art director designing logos, creating packaging and illustrating some. After one year of unfulfilled employment promises, he left and started freelancing as an illustrator.

 

Since Illustrating on his own he has worked for such clients as Hallmark Cards and Children’s Television Workshop, ad agencies such as BBDO South and Larry Smith & Associates, book publishers such as Prentice Hall and Scott Foresman.

 

He continues to illustrate from his Georgia home with his wife Pam, kids: Graham, Jessica and Russell, and their tabby cat, Dudley and Wheaton Terrier dog, Charlie (both are rescued animals).

 

Victor has three projects in the works: one, a story about the animals the family adopted; a research article on his father’s service in WWII during the Battle of the Bulge; and the History of a small southern Alabama town around the 1800’s.

 

View artist's personal website: www.pinwheelcs.com

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Published Books

	Freda's Signs by Debbie O'Brien (Author), Victor Kennedy (Illustrator) Pearson Scott Foresman
	Inventing Oatmeal by Christian Downey (Author), Victor Kennedy (Illustrator) Pearson Scott Foresman
	Journey Through the Earth by Joe Adair (Author), Victor Kennedy (Illustrator) Pearson Scott Foresman
	Moving Day by Marianne Lenihan (Author), Victor Kennedy (Illustrator) Pearson Scott Foresman
	The Mile-a-Minute Vine by Nancy Day (Author), Victor Kennedy (Illustrator) Pearson Scott Foresman
	To the Moon by Jesse McDermott (Author), Victor Kennedy (Illustrator) Pearson Scott Foresman
	What A Great Idea by Sharon Franklin (Author), Victor Kennedy (Illustrator) Pearson Scott Foresman
	Willy the Scrub by Jamie McEwan (Author), Victor Kennedy (Illustrator) Darby Creek Publishing Purchase this book HERE