Leonard Filgate

Early life and education

Leonard Filgate was born August 26, 1947, in San Francisco, California. His professional art career began at 16 when he sold his first painting. After high school, his art career was put on hold for five years while he served in the United States Merchant Marine. In 1970, Filgate returned to his self-study of art and embarked on a lifelong career as an artist and illustrator.

Career

Filgate is a self-taught artist and illustrator. Since 1970, he has created commissioned works for private individuals, several projects for the US Navy, reproductions of Japanese screens, props for a Warner Bros. Television series, theatrical backdrops, and storyboards. In 1997 he began work on the creation of illustrations for the Rip Squeak project and continued developing and painting in that theme, until 2007, at which time he chose to explore other avenues with his art and illustration. His originals and prints (over 40 editions) have been sold in numerous US art galleries and can be found in private and public collections throughout the world, including the Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware and the Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, California. He was honored as the featured illustrator for the 2003 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, has been included in the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance "Every Picture Tells a Story" traveling exhibition, had a major solo exhibition in 2005/2006 at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware, and is an artist member of the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Filgate has illustrated five children's books and two arts books, which have sold over 500,000 copies to date. He is currently working on new Rip Squeak and numerous other illustration and fine art projects.

Marriage and children

He married author Susan Yost in 1979; the couple have a daughter, born in 1984.