Paul Mirocha

Story by Sooyeon Lee

During Paul's Mirocha's formative years in St. Paul, Minnesota, he often found himself in his father's plant pathology lab. While a youth, Mirocha found science intriguing, he wondered how long he'd be washing test tubes and inoculating bean seedlings with fungal spores. A little later, when he took a break from art school to visit his family's cabin in the woods, he had a breakthrough.

Picking a simple fern leaf, he stared at it long and hard and began to draw it. Surprisingly, it was difficult. Mirocha was blown away by its complex geometry and profound beauty. Ever since then, he has been devoted to rendering the intricacies of the natural and human world, finding in his subjects both scientific interest and aesthetic appeal.

Today, Paul Mirocha says he has lost count of the number of children's picture books and pop-ups he has completed since starting his own illustration and design business in 1990. His illustrations and designs have also appeared in numerous adult books, exhibits, magazines, and advertisements of all kinds, as well as on products and product labels.

Although Mirocha has a lifetime of experience with old-school drafting and drawing methods, by now he has abandoned his railroad pen in favor of Bezier curves, and the old waxer machine for the type tool.