John Mantha, Illustrator

John Mantha is a Toronto-based artist and illustrator. He grew up in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, and graduated with honors from the Ontario College of Art in 1984.

His major commissions include the design of three gold coins for the Royal Canadian Mint, one of which was chosen coin of the year. He has done commemorative pieces for the Ford Motor Company and the Toronto Transit Commission, as well as 34 paintings for The Church of Our lady Of Good Counsel. Other clients have included Fox Television, Imperial Oil, Penguin Books, Annick Press, Kids Can Press and Cottage Life magazine. Working for book publishers, advertising agencies, magazines, coporations, television and movies, his work has been seen throughout North America. His paintings,

done in oils, have been exhibited in galleries across Ontario and hang in corporate and private collections. He freelances for Toronto television stations and newspapers as a courtroom artist.

Thus far, John has illustrated 21 books, including the Kids book of Canada’s Railway, which won the Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada 2001 Information Book Award, and was an official selection for the 2003 Red Cedar Book Awards. The Kids Book of Canadian Exploration was nominated for the 2006 Hackmatack Award for non-fiction. The Kids Book of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada was nominated for the BC Book Prizes, Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize.

He works in oils and oil-wash. His style is realistic in nature with an emphasis on texture.

He lives in Toronto with his wife, Leanne, daughter, Lauren, and Charlotte the cat.