Hillenbrand creates illustrating, publishing opportunities for children

When Will Hillenbrand was growing up in College Hill, he spent a lot of time reading picture books at the library, which would make him late for his baseball games at next-door Crawford Field.

“You may wonder, ‘How do we encounter art in our lives?’" Hillenbrand says. "And actually, it’s all around us. We might not realize it; however, the art that engaged me was through storytelling.” 

The library was critical in Hillenbrand’s journey as an illustrator and writer, but his journey actually started at his father's barber shop, where he spent time listening to “big fish stories."

“One way I’d kind of disappear in the background easily would be during the summer because my mom would make my dad a hot lunch, and I’d walk it up to the barber shop,” Hillenbrand says. “I’d walk the lunch up there and put it in the hall closet and then sit under the air conditioner and try to become part of the wallpaper.” 

Hillenbrand says he remembers one of the other barbers talking to a customer about his other job, which was cutting down trees, and how it was similar to cutting hair. 

“So if I were hearing something in that little synopsis, I might end up going home and drawing a person with a forest on their head and a barber cutting it, but it’s comical,” Hillenbrand says. 

As a child, Hillenbrand had the exposure and opportunity to not only fall in love with his craft, but also to practice it. And it’s this same opportunity that he’s now offering to other children. 

From now until the end of August, children have the chance to submit artwork that depicts their heroes for consideration in Hillenbrand’s e-book, which is entitled Everyday Heroes: Local Children and the People Who Inspire Them.

“What we’re interested in are characters that fall and get up and show us how they manage their challenges and struggles,” Hillenbrand says. “And we cheer for them and want them to do it, and for children, we want to be able to give them opportunities to share.” 

Hillenbrand has hosted two workshops at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County thus far, and children have been able to not only brainstorm, but also to dabble in digital media.

“There was a bridge that the children and I kind of walked back and forth across—it wasn’t a podium—it’s not that kind of thing,” Hillenbrand says. “And the library’s a great context because around the walls, you’ve got idea people—ideas that might be a first story—and when they participate, their ideas are validated, and they can feel like, ‘I’m an idea person, too,’ and isn’t that a good feeling?”