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Ron Lightburn was born in Cobourg, Ontario, but grew up in West Vancouver beside the Pacific Ocean where he loved to swim and play. He also loved to draw and produced his own comic books which he sold to classmates at his elementary school. Later he studied at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary, then settled in Victoria, beside his beloved ocean, and worked as a commercial illustrator and gallery artist. He passed the Orca Book Publishers office hundreds of times on his way to his local art supply store before stopping one day to ask about picture books. Within a few weeks he was working on the award-winning Waiting for the Whales. Mr. Lightburn likes to work from a series of rough illustrations or "studies", often based on photographs, before completing his artwork in coloured pencil on toned or coloured paper. His ability to create highly realistic images, at the same time as using other less literal techniques to influence the tone and set the mood of the story, resonates effectively with both the text and his readers and results in an immediate bond between book and reader.
Awards
 1992 | Governor General's Literary Award / Children's Literature (for best illustrations) for Waiting for the Whales. |
| 1992 | Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award for Waiting for the Whales. |
| 1992 | Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award for Waiting for the Whales. |
| 1995 | Mr. Christie's Book Award (for best English book age 7 and under) for How Smudge Came. |
| 1996 | Sheila A. Egoff Children's Book Prize for How Smudge Came. |
Selected Bibliography
Eagle Dreams. Written by Sheryl McFarlane; illustrated by Ron
Lightburn. Victoria, B.C.: Orca Book Publishers, c1994.
32 p,: col. ill.; 28 cm.
ISBN 1551430169 (bound)
ISBN 1551430231 (pbk.)
How Smudge Came. Written by Nan Gregory; illustrated by Ron
Lightburn.
Red Deer, Alta.: Red Deer College Press, c1995.
32 p.: col. ill.; 24 x 29 cm. (Northern lights books for children)
ISBN 0889951438 (bound)
I Can't Sleep! Written by Patti Farmer; illustrated by Ron Lightburn.
Victoria, B.C.: Orca Book Publishers c1992.
22 p.: col. ill.; 18 cm.
ISBN 0920501842
Waiting for the Whales. Written by Sheryl McFarlane; illustrated
by Ron Lightburn. Victoria, B.C.: Orca Book Publishers, 1993 (c1991).
32 p.: col. ill.; 24 cm.
ISBN 0920501664
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