Tracy Subisak standing outdoors on a grassy area, holding a book with a sign that reads "Jenny Mei is Sad," smiling, with trees and a bridge in the background.

Hi, I’m Tracy

A curious and silly storyteller driven by community & connection. 

I’m an author and illustrator creating picture books and visual stories that open a window to new perspectives. I’m especially curious about vulnerable moments, mistakes, and all the strange and wonderful ways we grow.

View My Work
Tracy Subisak as a little girl smiling and hugging her mom outdoors, while holding a book with colorful illustrations.

01

Where it started

I’ve always told stories in pictures.

As a kid, I drew all the time. My mom taught art to kids in our basement while I was in elementary school, so I had lots of access to tools and classes.

My elementary school even had a publishing house, where we were encouraged to write and illustrate our own stories and get them published. I published my first book in first grade.

02

Two languages, one sketchbook

Sometimes pictures said it better.

Reading and writing in both English and Chinese was, and still is, challenging for me as a third culture kid. I never felt like I completely excelled in one language. Instead, I became well-practiced at finding creative ways to get my point across.

I preferred marrying photos or drawings with words, and I preferred picture books and comics to novels. Looking back, visual storytelling had been there all along.

A workspace with several watercolor and ink illustrations of children, scenes of kids playing, and outdoor settings. Art supplies including watercolor paints, colored pencils, brushes, and jars are scattered on the desk.

03

Design, detours, and storyboards

I took the long way back to books.

As a math and art nut, I studied industrial design through the University of Cincinnati DAAP program. I gained a lot of professional development skills through various co-ops in major cities like San Francisco, NYC, Portland, Seoul, Columbus. I graduated with honors (and only a few credits away from a minor in Chinese! Drat!), and moved straight to Taiwan to study Chinese for the summer at NTNU. I loved living in Taiwan so much that I found a job there at PEGATRON and worked there until I moved to Portland, OR to work at Intel.

While I was at Intel, I took children’s book illustration classes at PNCA with Victoria Jamieson. During one class, Victoria pulled me aside and said:

“You know, you can do this if you want to.”

I wanted to, and I never fathomed that it was a career that I could do. She planted a seed.

A sketchbook showing a drawing of trees, grass, and a person sitting on a bench, with a background of a park and trees.
Close-up of a red textured roof with repeating curved tiles.
Close-up of a red textured roof with repeating curved tiles.

04

The turning point

So I started drawing every night.

After work, I built an illustration portfolio. Eventually, my work was featured in Seven Impossible Things as an up-and-coming children’s literature illustrator, which led to finding an agent.

I left my full-time design job and began freelancing while continuing to build my children’s book career. Over the next several years, I slowly tipped the scales from mostly design and informational illustration toward children’s literature.

A watercolor illustration of a boy kneeling on the ground with a gray dog that has a white spot on its tummy, both facing each other.
A hand holding a sketchbook with a colorful drawing of a forest path, with tall trees and two people sitting on a bench, in a wooded area.
A colorful illustration of a girl with black hair, orange shirt, and beige skin, pointing at a snail on her finger. The snail has a blue shell and an orange body. Several small illustrations show the girl’s finger with a snail, with some pointing and others relaxed. Handwritten notes in Chinese characters are at the bottom.
A colorful illustration of a girl with black hair, orange shirt, and beige skin, pointing at a snail on her finger. The snail has a blue shell and an orange body. Several small illustrations show the girl’s finger with a snail, with some pointing and others relaxed. Handwritten notes in Chinese characters are at the bottom.

And here I am now.

Close-up of brown wavy string or rope.
Close-up of brown wavy string or rope.

05

What I make now

Stories that open a window to a new perspective.

My work is inspired by curiosity around vulnerable moments, mistakes, and how we grow.

A children’s book cover titled 'Dragon Boat Race' by Tracy Subisak showing children racing on a dragon boat shaped like a dragon with a girl in a pink shirt lying across the dragon's head, a boy in a red shirt and glasses paddling, and another girl paddling with a girl in pink in a life vest leading on the dragon's back. More children are in the background racing in another boat.
Cover of a children's book titled 'Jenny Mei Is Sad' by Tracy Subisak, depicting two children holding hands, with one child wearing a yellow shirt and the other wearing a red shirt.
Cover of a children's book titled "Sorry, Snail" by Tracy Subisak, featuring a girl holding a blue snail in her hand, with the girl looking at the snail.
Cover of 'The Inactivity Book' showing a girl lying on the grass under a tree with two yellow chicks and a blue sky background.
Explore my books

Recognition & press

My books and illustrations have received recognition including:

Select Awards and Recognition:

  • Floyd’s Pick Award

  • Kirkus Best Picture Book

  • Book Riot Best Book

  • Children’s Book Council / National Council for Social Studies’ Notable Social Studies Book

  • Children’s Book Council / National Science Teaching Association’s Best STEM Book for K–12

  • The Cooperative Children’s Book Center Best Book of 2023

Press

These days…

I live in Portland, Oregon with my family and copious amounts of plants, where I write, draw, teach yoga & fitness classes, and continue finding new ways to tell stories.

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