James Palmer, the illustrator of the Francis Marion book
James Palmer, Kate and Jim's talented son, is the illustrator of Francis Marion and the Legend of the Swamp Fox. James grew up in Clemson and attended Clemson University, where he graduated with an English major and a minor in drama. These days he's a graphic artist with The Graphic Cow, a t-shirt screen printing company based in Liberty, SC.
James also does free-lance artwork from his studio for Warbranch Press and other publishers. In January 2005, James wrote, illustrated and co-produced a film documentary about Francis Marion for SC ETV entitled Chasing the Swamp Fox. Fellow Clemson native and close friend, Sanford Adams, produced the documentary about Marion and has been presented many times on ETV's Carolina Stories. In 2010 James and Sanford cooperated on another documentary, The Forgotten Founder, about South Carolina's important Revolutionary War hero, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who was one of the architects of the US Constitution, along with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
James's meticulous research gave his computer artwork an authenticity that made Francis Marion and his men come alive in moss-draped shadows and fiery battles in Chasing the Swamp Fox. The book, Francis Marion and the Legend of the Swamp Fox, was a natural outgrowth of James's work on the documentary for ETV. James's illustrations have made the book one of our most popular books with both children and adults.
James lives in Atlanta with his wife, Mandy, a preschool teacher, and their son, Leo (5), an already avid artist.
James can be contacted via e-mail: jpalmer@mindspring.com