Lynn Sweat

About Lynn Sweat

Lynn Sweat (born 1934) is an American illustrator and painter who grew up on the Texas coast, best known for illustrating the Amelia Bedelia books by Peggy Parish and later by her nephew Herman Parish.

Sweat spent his childhood on the Texas coast, where he grew up close to nature and with a love of pencils, crayons and libraries. He studied commercial illustration and graduated from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, in 1956, and has credited his teachers there, among them Harold Pelfry and Myrtle Kerr, with shaping his life. His work has since appeared in many books, including textbooks and paperback covers, one of them a cover for H. G. Wells's The Time Machine.

For Peggy Parish he illustrated Amelia Bedelia titles including Good Work, Amelia Bedelia, Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia, Amelia Bedelia Helps Out, Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia and Amelia Bedelia's Family Album. He went on to illustrate many of Herman Parish's continuation titles, among them Bravo, Amelia Bedelia!, Calling Doctor Amelia Bedelia, Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm and Amelia Bedelia's Masterpiece. As a painter he has exhibited in galleries from New York City to the Dishman Art Museum at Lamar University. He and his wife live in Connecticut. In 2021 a collection of his papers, including correspondence, clippings and exhibition catalogues, was given to the Lamar University Archives.

For collectors

First editions of the Peggy Parish titles he illustrated, such as Good Work, Amelia Bedelia, carry his original art. Not every Amelia Bedelia book was drawn by Sweat, so check the illustrator credit on each title.