Elena Kucharik is a children's illustrator known for her artwork across the entire line of

Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, originally painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. In 1983, the characters were turned into plush teddy bears. The characters headlined their own televisi ...

items from the 1980s. She was co-creator of that franchise along with

Linda Denham Linda B. Denham is the co-creator of the Care Bears franchise along with Elena Kucharik, the main artist for the greeting cards in the 1980s. During that decade, Denham served as Director and Vice President of Marketing for the Kenner toy company; ...

. Kucharik is also an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

series ''Little Blessings'' published by

Tyndale House Tyndale House is a Christian publisher in Carol Stream, Illinois. History Tyndale was founded in 1962 by Kenneth N. Taylor in order to publish his paraphrase of the Epistles, which he had composed while commuting to work at Moody Press in C ...

. Kucharik was born in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and received a bachelor's degree of Fine Arts from

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

. Her Care Bears illustrations were the most detailed of all the illustrators who have worked on the franchise. As the lead Care Bears illustrator, Elena worked for American Greetings Corporation, who owns the trademark and her original art.

References

External links

Elena's Custom Paintings
* Care Bears Living people Artists from Cleveland American women illustrators American illustrators 1942 births Kent State University alumni American people of Romanian descent Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States {{US-illustrator-stub