ALLEN CRAWFORD
Allen and Susan Crawford founded Plankton Art Company in 1996. They work independently in their own distinct styles, but they occasionally team up on larger projects. Their shared background in biology and conservation has enabled them to work with many prestigious science and education-based institutions. Their most notable joint project to date is their set of identification key illustrations for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The 400 illustrations of corals, invertebrates, crustaceans, fish, and mammals have been on permanent display in the famous Milstein Hall of Ocean Life for over twenty years.
Allen has worked on an unusually broad range of independent projects over the course of his career, including advertising campaigns, editorial illustrations, animations, videos, copywriting, packaging, product design, logos, identity systems, typefaces, and books.
He's also starred in David Scott Kessler's experimental documentary film, The Pine Barrens.
A lifelong naturalist, Allen also serves as a trail steward for the New Jersey Park Service.
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BOOKS:
Allen wrote, illustrated, and designed The Affected Provincial's Companion (Bloomsbury 2006), an odd collection of satirical charts and essays which was optioned for film four times by Johnny Depp's production company, Infinitum Nihil.
His second book, Whitman Illuminated: Song of Myself (Tin House 2014), is an illustrated edition of Walt Whitman's epic poem. The entire 256-page book was written by hand, and has won several awards, including a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators. The drawings and sketches from this project are now permanently archived as the Crawford Collection at the University of Iowa Libraries.
His most recent book, A Wild Promise (Tin House 2023) is a celebration of the Endangered Species Act. It contains over 100 illustrations. The introduction was written by noted conservationist and writer, Terry Tempest Williams. The book has won multiple awards, including the 3x3 International Illustration Show's Gold Cube award.
AWARDS:
Society of Illustrators (Gold); 3x3 International Illustration Show (Gold, Best in Show); American Illustration; Communication Arts; Print; Type Directors Club; Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
CLIENTS:
Comedy Central, Random House, Nickelodeon, Target, TBWA Chiat-Day, Knopf, The Lincoln Center Theater, The Rosenbach Museum and Library, The American Museum of Natural History, The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, BBH London, Tin House, QCM, Phish, Le Grand Magistery, The Wagner Free Institute, The Coney Island Museum, Friends of the Smithsonian Zoo, and The National Constitution Center.
