Ard Hoyt was born in Temple, Texas and raised on picture books. From a very early age he discovered that even though he wasn't allowed to cross the street, he could go anywhere in a picture book. He fell in love with the worlds created by Robert Lawson, Steven Kellogg and H.A. Rey. This freedom grew to include his own pictures. Before long Ard discovered that with a white sheet of paper he could change the weather. He knew that he wanted to be a children's book illustrator and dreamed of one day having a book with his name on it next to the great ones.

Ard graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in 2001 and has illustrated over 15 children's books since including two New York Times Best Sellers ("I'm a Manatee" by John Lithgow and "The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School" by Laurie Halse Anderson). Ard hopes that you can open up one of his picture books and travel to a different world, just as he does. Enjoy!