Dean Morrissey has been drawing and creating characters since his childhood in Boston.
Inspired by Disney matte paintings and comic book heroes early on, he grew to appreciate the
works of the masters, such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Pyle and N.C. Wyeth. Morrissey worked a
variety of job until deciding to paint full time in the late 1970’s. He worked as a freelance book
cover illustrator for over 15 different publishers in New York and won numerous awards.
Morrissey is self taught, and considers the demands of cover illustration to have been his “art
school”. In 1991, Morrissey began to paint some images from a story that he was creating. His
books include Ship of Dreams Harry N Abrams (1994), The Great Kettles: A Tale of Time
Harry N Abrams (1997), The Song of Celestine Little, Brown and Co. (1998), The Christmas
Ship HarperCollins (2000), A Christmas Carol Greenwich Workshop Press (2000), The Moon
Robber HarperCollins (2001), The Winter King HarperCollins (2002), and The Monster Trap
HarperCollins (2004). His awards include The Society of Illustrators Gold Medal for The Great
Kettles, The Chesley Award for The Light Ship (2002), and he is a current nominee for this
year’s Chesley Award for Anna of the Celts (2003). Morrissey lives with his wife Shan and his
son on the South Shore of Massachusetts.
Dean Morrissey
View Artists
Portfolio
Dean Morrissey
Twiggs       Moore Gallery
&