Jared D. Lee an artist, cartoonist and illustrator, was born and raised in Van Buren, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1966 from The John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis

Indianapolis

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

. In 1970, after serving two years in the military and working one year at Gibson Greetings as a greeting card designer, he started his freelance career as an artist and cartoonist

Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...

.

Lee's work has been associated with entities such as the US Postal Service, New York Telephone, L.L. Bean, Procter and Gamble, Ralston Purina, Lands' End

Lands' End

Lands' End is a clothing retailer based in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, that specializes in casual clothing, luggage, and home furnishings. The majority of Lands' End's business is conducted through mail order and Internet sales, but the company also runs more than a dozen retail operations, primarily in...

, Bell South, Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

, Scholastic Publishing, Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...

, and Dutton Children's Books. He was one of the six illustrators chosen to create the first group of Happy Meal

Happy Meal

A "Happy Meal" is a meal specifically marketed at children, sold at the fast-food chain McDonald's since June 1979. A toy is typically included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a small box or paper bag with the McDonald's logo....

 boxes for McDonalds.

Lee has illustrated over eighty books for young readers, and is best known for his collaboration with author Mike Thaler on the best-selling Black Lagoon series, including The Teacher from the Black Lagoon. Mr. Lee also creates and produces a humorous line of T-shirts and gift items featuring horses, sold throughout the United States and abroad. His lifelong interest and involvement with horses and ponies alike led to the collaboration with actor/model/author Carson Kressley

Carson Kressley

Carson Lee Kressley was the fashion expert on the American television program Queer Eye, where he was one of the show's "Fab Five" members. He is also the motivational host of the TV show How to Look Good Naked.-Biography:...

 on the book You're Different and That's Super

You're Different and That's Super

You're Different and That's Super is the name of a children's book by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fashion expert Carson Kressley, published in October 2005.- Synopsis :...

.

He has received awards from the Society of Illustrators, The Martha Kinney Cooper Ohioana Library Association, The National Cartoonist Society, and numerous advertising clubs. In 2011 Lee was nominated for a National Cartoonists Society

National Cartoonists Society

The National Cartoonists Society is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops...

 award for book illustration.

Memberships include the Society of Illustrators, and Illustrators' Partnership.

Personal life

Lee's home and studio are in Southwest Ohio where he lives with his wife, P.J.. He has two grown daughters, Jana and Jennifer, who are each married and live in the same area. He lists his late father Gerald as his hero, saying "he didn't know much about art but he always encouraged me to draw." His favorite athletes are Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan

Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...

 and Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong

Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist who won the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times, after having survived testicular cancer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation for cancer research and support...

.
Jared is an avid college basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 fan and is a long-time season ticket holder to the University of Cincinnati

University of Cincinnati

The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....

 Men's basketball games. He continues to be involved in the horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

 and pony

Pony

A pony is a small horse . Depending on context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. There are many different breeds...

 world, owning one American Saddlebred

American Saddlebred

The American Saddlebred, formerly known as the American Saddle Horse, is a breed of horse that was developed in Kentucky by plantation owners. Today, in the horse show world, they are most commonly seen under saddle in Saddle seat style riding, and in various types of driving, including pleasure...

 and three ponies of the Hackney Pony

Hackney pony

The Hackney pony is a breed of pony closely related to the Hackney horse. Originally bred to pull carriages, they are used today primarily as show ponies. The breed does not have its own stud book, but shares one with the Hackney Horse in all countries that have an official Hackney Stud Book...

 breed. They are shown

Horse show

A Horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days, sometimes longer for major, all-breed events or national and...

by his daughter Jana.