Jake Parker is an American comics short-story creator, concept artist, illustrator, and animator. Parker worked as a set designer for Blue Sky Studios where he contributed to the animated filmsHorton Hears a Who, Rio and Epic. Parker is a children's book illustrator; his work includes the 2015 New York Times bestseller The Little Snowplow. In 2016, he wrote and illustrated his first children's book Little Bot and Sparrow which was inspired by his "Robot and Sparrow" comic. He is the creator of Inktober, a popular annual ink drawing celebration during October.
Life and career
Jake Parker grew up in Mesa, Arizona. He developed an interest in drawing at a young age, influenced by cartoonists Bill Watterson, Jim Lee, and Mike Mignola. After dropping out of community college, Parker worked as an assistant to animators at Fox Animations Studios in Phoenix, Arizona and contributed to the movie Titan A.E.. After the animation studio closed, Parker worked in graphic design, museum exhibit design, and video game design. He moved to Connecticut to work as a set designer at Blue Sky Studios where he contributed to the animated films Horton Hears a Who, Rio and Epic. Parker moved with his wife and five children to Provo, Utah to teach illustration at Brigham Young University. In 2009, Parker started Inktober, a popular annual celebration of ink drawing during the month of October. Inktober is a challenge to create one ink drawing every day for each day of October and post them on social media; Parker originally started the challenge to motivate himself to improve his own inking skills. In October 2015, over 1 million Inktober drawings were posted on Instagram. Parker registered "Inktober" as a trademark, and in 2019, some participating artists received cease and desist notices for selling work created during the challenge. Parker clarified that using the word "Inktober" was permitted in a subtitle, but use of the logo was not. He started an "Art Drop Day", which occurs on the first Tuesday of September, to encourage artists to connect with others in a physical way. Parker is also the co-founder and contributor to the illustration education website, Society of Visual Storytelling, a series of live online classes which now offers subscriptions to recorded classes. He contributed stories for three of the volumes of Flight. His comic "Robot and the Sparrow" was influenced by Calvin and Hobbes. Parker has illustrated children's books such as the 2015 New York Times bestsellerThe Little Snowplow, The Tooth Fairy Wars, and The 12 Sleighs of Christmas. He wrote and illustrated his first book, a children's book called Little Bot and Sparrow based on his "Robot and Sparrow" comic. Parker and his wife have five children and live in Arizona. One of his sons, Tate Parker, also draws comics.
