fbpx

susan@brainmonsters.com

HomeABOUT

ABOUT

Classically Trained Illustrator

My name is Susan Szecsi ( say-tshee) and I am an award-winning illustrator and designer with more than fifteen years of professional experience. I enjoy working in various artistic fields including character design and children’s books illustration and advertising. When I illustrate a book I love to create the layout and design too.
I received my classical art training at two prestigious studios in Hungary, the country of my birth. Among other things, I learned art anatomy, color theory, perspective and composition. This traditional approach to art education meant that we needed to draw and paint from real life and acquire classical artistic skills.
I received a master’s degree in English Language and Literature from College K. Eszterhazy in Eger, Hungary. I hold a Cambridge CELTA from the Australian Teacher Training College, Sydney Australia.
During past years I have been lucky enough to live and work on four continents embracing multicultural environments and communities. 

With diverse background spanning form teaching, art direction and design, I have honed my skills as a co-founder and managing director of Marble Press, an innovative, traditional book publisher. 

For additional information or enquiries drop me a line at susan@brainmonsters.com

Selected Clients

– Scholastic NYC, NY (Chapter book,2018)

– Scholastic London, UK (Illustrations for GCSE literary books, 2019)

– Chicago Review Press Chicago, IL (Award-winning picture book, 2019)

– Santa Fe Writers Project Santa Fe, NM ( picture book, 2021)

– Stanford University Press, CA Illustrations for “Jaws, The story of a Hidden Epidemic”by New York Times best selling Paul R Ehrlich and Sandra Kahn

– Hunter House Publishers, CA ( Medical illustrations for best selling book about osteoporosis)

– Alive Media Publishers, CA (Picture books 2017 and 2020)

– Oxford Designers and Illustrators, Oxford, UK (various educational illustrations)

– University of California San Francisco (Various medical illustrations)

– Blue Dot Kids Press San Francisco, CA (book and other print design from 2019-)

– m2m Los Angeles (Animation for marketing campaign)

– GOPex, San  Mateo, CA, (Non-ficion children’s book by Dr Sandra Kahn DDS MSD and Dr Simon Wong 2016)

– Concierge Orthodontic Practice, San Mateo, CA. (Children’s book illustrations and graphic design 2015)

– ttlharmony (Florida) (The Queen of the Heavens Fantasy novel, book cover design and illustrations, logo, website and Piercing the Veil, illustrations and book design for best selling memoir of Kingsley Guy, 2018)

– Davila Illustration,  London, UK ( educational illustrations for various clients)

– Vegan Publishers, Boston MA. (Picture book published in 2019)

Marble Press logo
She not only draws perfect medical anatomy but she makes it beautiful
Working with Susan Szecsi has been the best experience in my professional life. She is incredibly talented, she understands exactly what I want to ilustrate and she creates the perfect communication tool. She not only draws perfect medical anatomy but she makes it beautiful. She is a joy to work with, it's like having a magic wand to creat exactly what I need. I would recommend her highly for any illustration of design project! -- Dr. Sandra Kahn, D.D.S., M.S.D.,
Highly responsive to client needs and wishes
"I have known Susan Szecsi for more than ten years and watched her talents and skills grow steadily during that time ... along with the number of her uniformly satisfied, charmed, amused and very happy clients. She is insightful, adaptable, energetic, highly responsive to client needs and wishes, exceedingly disciplined, multicultural, good-humored and an all-around pleasure to work with. I look forward to working with her again in the years to come." -- Cynthia Whitehead, Lawyer, Linguist
I like her unique design style that supports the author's expression
"Susan's work accentuate the subject in a playful, entertaining way. I like her unique design style that supports the author's expression. Her characterization helps visualizing the world behind the written words. The art she creates provides strong support retaining the content or knowledge the author intends to impart on the reader. I am a fan!" -- Joseph Marfi, JBMC Consultant at Turner
Everybody loves the illustrations!
"Susan did a wonderful job illustrating our children's book. Her characters were drawn so endearingly and she has a knack for taking a mere idea and translating it into exactly what we wanted to see on the page. Everybody loves the illustrations! We want her to illustrate all of our future books too!" -- Glenn Saks, General Council and VP at Drive
She knows so much about publishing
I cannot put into words how amazing it was to work with Susan... but let me try! First and foremost she is a talented artist. She did a sample sketch of the main characters that had us jumping up and down squealing in delight just like the 8-year-old girls she had so charmingly rendered. We came to her with text on a page and she magically brought the characters and story to life—and all within budget. Time after time she captivated with new artwork that was more engaging and relatable than we ever imagined. She spent time really understanding the project and vision upfront—so much so that we rarely had to make significant revisions (though she was always flexible and open to ideas and suggestions). It was so obvious that she was part of the team and really cared about the book and mission. Furthermore, Susan is responsible, detail-oriented and timely. Plus she knows so much about publishing a book and helped us immensely with advice and assistance for financing, marketing, printing, and more. Susan is an incredible artist, person, and professional. I cannot imagine a better experience or final product. She is a true gem! -- Amanda Reveno, Head of Marketing at GTM Strategy
I recommend her wholeheartedly to anyone
Susan is a "take-your-breath-away" talented artist. She is able to work with any type of medium, including online, and in whatever style you need. I use her consistently on all my projects and believe she is key to giving me an edge. She represents what I have in my heart visually. I believe the websites that she has created for me are maybe the very most beautiful websites on the Web, not just for beauty's sake, but artwork that reenforces and harmonizes with my messages. I recommend her wholeheartedly to anyone. -- Lynn S. Bachrach, President at ttlHarmony Publishing
Quick responses and a great work
It was a pleasure to work with Susan. She was very patient and quick in her reactions. I love the fact that she painted the design herself and I would definitely like to work with her again. -- Hannah Siebern, Author
Our expectations were exceeded
"We are extremely pleased with how our project turned out. The results are amazing. It was an absolute pleasure working with Susan Szecsi and we highly recommend collaborating with this very talented artist. Our expectations were exceeded and our project was delivered in a timely manner." -- Jordan Bolch, Recording Artist, Producer
Previous slide
Next slide

One of the best thing about being an illustrator is you can meet and work with amazing people. See some selections of the interesting projects below.

Below, at UCSF with the brilliant Professor Sonja Schrepfer and the Space Mice. I was thrilled when at a university lecture I had a chance to meet Millie Hughes-Fullford, former NASA astronaut. 

NYC in 2007 with my happy client, the beautiful and talented Molly Dare Hillenbrand, president at Red Kinights Studio, and founder of Hillenbrand Media
happy clients with court drawing framed
Happy clients with the courtroom illustration I created
client logos client logos color

Share this:

Shopping Basket