Comport, Sally Wern

Personal

Married Alan Comport (an art agent); children: two daughters. Education: Columbus College of Art & Design, B.A., 1978; Syracuse University, M.A. (illustration), 2000.

Addresses

Home and office—Annapolis, MD. Agent—Shannon Associates, 630 9th Ave., Ste. 707, New York, NY 10036. E-mail—wcstudio@crosslink.net.

Career

Illustrator. Formerly worked as an art director for advertising agencies; W/C Studio Inc., cofounder with Alan Comport, 1983; Art at Large, Inc., cofounder, 2003. Maryland Institute College of Art, member of adjunct faculty. Exhibitions: Work included in permanent collection of Museum of American Illustrators.

Awards, Honors

Several ADDY awards; awards from Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, and Print magazine regional design awards.

Illustrator

Robert D. San Souci, Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 1999.

Robert Merrill Bartlett, The Story of Thanksgiving, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2001.

Elizabeth Levy, Vampire State Building, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Dandi Daley Mackall, Until the Christ Child Came, Concordia Pub. House (St. Louis, MO), 2002.

Sara Nickerson, How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2002.

Judith Edwards, The Great Expedition of Lewis and Clark, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2003.

Jahnna N. Malcolm, The Royal Switch, Gateway Learning Corp. (Santa Ana, CA), 2003.

Jahnna N. Malcolm, Pirate's Revenge, Gateway Learning Corp. (Santa Ana, CA), 2003.

Adam McKeown, Hamlet, Sterling Pub. (New York, NY), 2003.

Joseph Bruchac, The Dark Pond, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

Peter Roop, The Louisiana Purchase, Aladdin (New York, NY), 2004.

American Poetry, edited by John Hollander, Sterling Pub. Co. (New York, NY), 2004.

Kathryn Gibbs Davis, First Kids, Random House (New York, NY), 2004.

Joseph Bruchac, Whisper in the Dark, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

Mark Twain, Stories for Young People, edited by Gregg Camfield, Sterling Pub. (New York, NY), 2005.

Joseph Bruchac, The Return of Skeleton Man, HarperCollins Publishers (New York, NY), 2006.

Virginia L. Kroll, Easter Eggs for Anya: A Ukrainian Celebration of New Life in Christ, Zonderkidz (Grand Rapids, MI), 2007.

Jean Fritz, Who's Saying What in Jamestown, Thomas Savage?, G.P. Putnam's Sons (New York, NY), 2007.

Joseph Bruchac, Bearwalker, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2007.

"SPY MICE" SERIES

Heather Vogel Frederick, The Black Paw, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2005.

Heather Vogel Frederick, For Your Paws Only, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2005.

Heather Vogel Frederick, Goldwhiskers, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (New York, NY), 2007.

"TREASURE ISLAND" SERIES

Robert Louis Stevenson, The Treasure Map, adapted by Catherine Nicols, Sterling Pub. (New York, NY), 2006.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Off to Sea, adapted by Catherine Nicols, Sterling Pub. (New York, NY), 2006.

Robert Louis Stevenson, Pirate Attack, adapted by Catherine Nicols, Sterling Pub. (New York, NY), 2006.

Robert Louis Stevenson, On the Island, adapted by Catherine Nichols, Sterling Pub. (New York, NY), 2007.

Sidelights

Sally Wern Comport began her career working as an art director in advertising, but turned to illustration in the mid-1980s. Her first children's-book project, Robert San Souci's Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure, was released in 1999 and has been followed by many other books. In addition to stand-alone books for authors such as Jean Fritz, Joseph Bruchac, and Virginia L. Krull, Comport has illustrated several volumes in Heather Vogel Frederick's "Spy Mouse" series and four volumes in Catherine Nicols' adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. The recipient of several awards for illustration, Comport lives with her family in Annapolis, Maryland and has taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Reviewing Comport's picture-book debut for Booklist, Carolyn Phelan wrote that in Brave Margaret the story's animated pastel illustrations are "full of rich colors and textures" and "almost jump off the page." The story's rural setting and its folktale roots are expressed through Comport's use of "dark and rugged pastels and varying perspective," according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer, the critic deeming Brave Margaret an "exciting read." In Bruchac's The Dark Pond the illustrator contributes art that adds to the "eerie" nature of the story, while her "cartoonlike, black-and-white illustrations provide interest" to Frederick's For Your Paws Only, part of the "Spy Mice" chapter-book series. Her comics-style artwork for Sara Nickerson's middle-grade novel How to Disappear and Never Be Found "not only extends the plot of the novel but also stands on its own as fully realized ministories," in the opinion of Booklist contributor Francisca Goldsmith. In an example of Comport's versatility as an illustrator, the color-filled images she creates for Robert Merrill Bartlett's The Story of Thanksgiving feature "warm fall colors [and] are energetic and festive," according to Hazel Rochman, writing in the same publication.

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1999, Carolyn Phelan, review of Brave Margaret: An Irish Adventure, p. 1217; September 15,

2001, Hazel Rochman, review of The Story of Thanksgiving, p. 234; April 1, 2002, Francisca Goldsmith, review of How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, p. 1329; August, 2002, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Vampire State Building, p. 1950; July, 2005, Todd Morning, review of The Black Paw, p. 1924; September 15, 2007, Hazel Rochman, review of Bearwalker, p. 65.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2005, review of For Your Paws Only, p. 1025; July 1, 2006, review of The Return of Skeleton Man, p. 675; March 15, 2007, review of Who's Saying What in Jamestown, Thomas Savage?

Publishers Weekly, February 8, 1999, review of Brave Margaret, p. 214; April 15, 2002, review of How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found, p. 65.

School Library Journal, September, 2001, Pamela K. Bomboy, review of The Story of Thanksgiving, p. 210; November, 2002, Elaine E. Knight, review of Vampire State Building, p. 129; August, 2004, B. Allison Gray, review of The Dark Pond, p. 115; August, 2005, Wendi Hoffenberg, review of Whisper in the Dark, p. 121; October, 2005, Elizabeth Bird, review of The Black Paw, p. 160; December, 2005, Elizabeth Bird, review of For Your Paws Only, p. 147; August, 2006, Adrienne Furness, review of The Return of Skeleton Man, p. 115; April, 2007, Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, review of Who's Saying What in Jamestown, Thomas Savage?, p. 105.

ONLINE

Sally Wern Comport Home Page,http://www.sallywerncomport.com (May 29, 2008).