Artist Leslie Cober-Gentry

About Leslie Cober-Gentry

Leslie Cober-Gentry is well known for her unique and uplifting conceptual style.  Her humorous illustrations are created in mixed media, which includes gouache, dip pen, India ink, colored pencil, and collage.  Born in New York City in 1963, to a professional illustrator father and creative mother, at the age of 7 she began to pursue her dream of becoming a successful freelance illustrator.  By 15, she completed her first assignment for the New York Times Op Ed page.  After graduating from Syracuse University's School of Visual and Performing Arts in 1985, on merit scholarship, she continued to illustrate professionally for many of the most prestigious magazines, newspapers, corporations, and advertising agencies in the world. 

Some of her clients include, The New York Times, Forbes, BusinessWeek, Entertainment Weekly, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, Hallmark Cards, Sony Records, Ford, Chevrolet, and the Entergy Corporation. She has won several awards including one from the Society of Publication Designers and Print's Regional Design Annual, a gold medal from the 2006 Vision Awards Annual Report Competition, a bronze award from the 21st Annual Mercomm/ARC awards Competition, an American Graphic Design Award from Graphic Design USA, a Children's Choice Award for "Sisters Club" by American Girl, and has been included in the book, American Illustration, as well as a juror for the prestigious Society of Illustrator's Show.  Artist Magazine featured Cober-Gentry in a special section titled, "Crossing the Bridge to Illustration...What you need to know to make it in the Illustration field. Today's top illustrators share their wisdom." Several illustration "How to" books, including the "The Desktop Designer's Illustration Handbook" and "The Best of Best Brochure Design" have included Cober-Gentry's work as examples of successful illustrations and how they were developed.

Now after 20 years illustratring over 1000 assignments for many of the top publications and corporations in the world, Cober-Gentry as serves as an adjunct assistant professor of illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.  This is a natural continuation of her love of the illustration profession. She plans to complete a Master of Fine Arts degree in illustration in the summer of 2011 and is diligently working from her home studio on a children's picture book she has written and illustrated.  Leslie Cober-Gentry lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with her husband and two children.