Greg Newbold’s Illustration Moves Between Storybooks and Editorial Work

Greg Newbold’s portfolio moves across children’s publishing, editorial illustration and brand commissions, with painting at the center of his practice. The Salt Lake City artist has worked for publishers including Simon & Schuster, Random House and HarperCollins, as well as brands such as Heinz Foods, Smucker’s, American Express, Kleenex and Sony Pictures. The range gives a useful view of an illustrator’s work across different settings: a book image must serve a story, while editorial and brand assignments answer distinct briefs.

The Directory of Illustration’s artist feature presents an updated portfolio of Newbold’s work. Its image credits include a piece for Barnes & Noble, an illustration for the Wall Street Journal’s 2020 Fall Book Preview, and work for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing. Those captions establish the clients and context, though the feature doesn’t describe the individual images’ palettes, typefaces or production methods. The portfolio’s breadth is clear; the specific visual decisions are left for the artwork itself to show.

Painting across mediums

Newbold earned an MFA in Illustration at the University of Hartford in 2009. During that period, he added digital painting and gallery oil painting to his skill set. That combination connects work made for reproduction with a material painting practice: digital tools can support images prepared for publishing and editorial layouts, while oil painting gives him another way to develop and present an image. The source doesn’t identify the software or explain how he moves between the two methods, so the distinction is best understood as range rather than a fixed workflow.

For working illustrators, the practical lesson is in how a medium can expand the kinds of briefs an artist can take on. A strong portfolio can show clients that its maker has experience across formats, while still making the artist’s recognizable approach easy to identify. Newbold’s record spans books, newspapers and commercial brands, but the feature describes his work as having a recognizable style. That balance—versatility within an identifiable visual voice—is central to a career serving varied clients.

Illustration built around books

Newbold has illustrated a dozen children’s books. Among them are If Picasso Painted a Snowman and If da Vinci Painted a Dinosaur, written by his wife, Amy Newbold, and published by Tilbury House Publishers in 2017 and 2018, respectively. He also illustrated The Little Match Girl, published by Shadow Mountain in 2017.

The titles suggest a practice that can move between playful art references and a familiar literary story, though the feature doesn’t detail the visual treatment of each book. For a children’s book illustrator, the assignment involves more than creating a striking standalone image: illustrations need to work in sequence, support the text and hold a young reader’s attention across the pages. Newbold’s dozen-book experience puts that sustained storytelling work alongside his single-commission editorial and brand projects.

His search for another children’s book project also points to a concrete next step in his practice. Publishers and art directors considering his work can assess a portfolio that includes book credits alongside assignments for established editorial and commercial clients.

Recognition and a stated aim

The feature lists awards from the Society of Illustrators in New York, Communication Arts, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators and Spectrum. Newbold has received gold, silver and bronze medals from the Los Angeles Society of Illustrators. He is also described as a five-time Best of State Utah winner in Drawing/Illustration and a recipient of the Best of State Statue for Arts & Entertainment. The article names exhibitions in New York City, Los Angeles, Columbus, Ohio, and galleries across the Mountain West.

Newbold frames his purpose in direct terms: “My artistic philosophy is to make the world a more beautiful place through painting, because ‘life needs art.’” That statement fits a portfolio rooted in image making across publishing and client work. The feature doesn’t prescribe a single technique for reaching that goal; it documents the range of settings in which he has applied his painting practice.

Designers and art directors can explore Newbold’s portfolio through the Directory of Illustration, or visit his website. His next children’s book project will add another chapter to a body of work already spanning picture books, editorial commissions and commercial assignments.