It really just makes sense that I would end up here. You see, I grew up when magic was real. But I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up a bit and explain:
My name is Corey McCarty. I’m 48 years old and I am an author and illustrator. I grew up reading amazing whimsical tales from dreamers like Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, Ray Bradbury and Ursula LeGuinn. I watched Luke Skywalker call his lightsaber to his hand using a mysterious ‘force’. I watched Michael Jackson walk on air across a stage and watched Michael Jordan fly across a basketball court. I fell in love with the illustrated worlds produced by giants like Brian Froud, Jeffrey Catharine Jones, Arthur Rackham and Boris Vallejo, and all these stories and the magic they created stayed with me.
You see, magic was real. I owe so much to the minds and hands that created these magical worlds. They wove magic in their worlds and characters so that I could get a taste of it. I grew up surrounded by the alchemy of these sages that came before me.
Since then I’ve worked in a bustling newsroom, a sophisticated design agency, in a fast food kitchen, a greenhouse, and an old grimy factory. I’ve lived overseas and explored the ancient structures in Colchester, England and climbed along the soaring Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, Ireland. I’ve camped in the Poconos and I’ve snorkeled in the Caribbean. And through all of these adventures that magic stayed with me and if I was lucky a little bit of it crept out in my intrepid sketchbook.
My sketchbook has always been like a well worn companion through which I recorded my experiences and interpretations of the world, and through which I could record my own stories and my own worlds.
And now that I’m older, what better way to honor those who have given me their gift of magic and wonderment than to give wings to my stories and worlds I created. To let them spring free from the confines of my sketchbook and to pass along this magic through my own stories and illustrations. To show today’s kids the magic in my worlds. Allowing them to explore every dark corner and every dusty shelf. Revealing the breathtaking vistas and the mysterious valleys of worlds I imagine.
And maybe, if I’m very lucky, someone who grew up reading my poems and studying my illustrations will one day look up from their work and begin daydreaming, suddenly remembering fondly some of the magic I passed on to them.
You see, it really just makes sense that I would end up here. I grew up when magic was real.
“To light a candle is to cast a shadow…”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea
Contact:
To contact Corey please email him at: mccartycreative@gmail.com