John P. Maggard

John P. Maggard has done 24 of the 26 posters used to publicize the American Heart Association's 15K run. Each year he has delivered an illustration with a unique personality that distinguishes that year's race.

A graduate of Miami University in Oxford and a Cincinnati resident for 24 years, he began his illustrating career immediately upon graduating in 1976. He came to Cincinnati to work with the graphic design firm Steinau-Fisher Studio, but soon went out on his own.

Maggard's clients include PepsiCo, Mead, Compaq Computers and Time/Life. He is also a volunteer Terrace Park fireman.

Jared Lee

Jared Lee's comical characters can be found on greeting cards, mugs, baseball caps and T-shirts. He has illustrated more than 50 children's books, including Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler. He was raised in Van Buren, Ind., and received his bachelor's of fine arts from the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis. He worked a year at the Gibson Greeting Card Co., then started a freelance career.

He has done work for the U.S. Postal Service, New York Telephone, L.L. Bean, McDonalds and other large corporations.

Will Hillenbrand

A noted illustrator of children's books, Terrace Park resident Will Hillenbrand is a native Cincinnatian. He says he grew up around stories and drawing was the way he captured the stories he heard.

He started his career working in advertising but after a class in picture book art, "I decided to try my hand at illustrating children's literature."

He has illustrated more than 30 books, written three and has a Christmas story coming out next year.

C.F. Payne

"Chris (Payne) became a mentor to me. I sought him out," says illustrator Loren Long. "It was his opinions and encouragement that gave me a lot of steam, a lot of confidence that I could make a go of it. He was someone doing it in a big way,"

Chris (C.F.) Payne has influenced a number of illustrators, both through his exacting caricatures and as an influence and inspiration.

A graduate of Miami University, he worked in illustration studios in Akron and Chicago before going freelance in 1980.

Today, he is one of the most in-demand illustrators in the business, with works appearing on the covers and inside pages of publications such as Time, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, Mad, Esquire, GQ, National Geographic and, most recently, Reader's Digest.

He's done a series of stamps of famous singers for the U.S. Postal Service; illustrated John Lithgow's children's book, The Remarkable Farkle McBride; and received numerous awards.

Marilyn Bauer