Artist Profile: Rob Lassetter

By Ellen Samsell Salas

 

Artist Rob Lassetter jokes that his love of humor and his short attention span make him the right fit for creating cartoons. Even as a child, he could quickly knock out an image then move to another — sometimes in the margins of his school notes. As a teen, he was asked to paint murals on the walls of his alma mater, Francis Wheeler High School in Marietta.

 

Lassetter has parlayed that early love of drawing into a career as a cartoonist, animator, illustrator, and web designer that includes commercial art for Coca-Cola, the Atlanta Braves, and Bell South. He has gravitated toward creating for Christian ministries, often working with his wife, Camille, his colorist. Together, they illustrated 200 stories in the My Awesome God Bible storybook.

 

No matter the project, Lassetter’s images are distinguished by their humor and their energy. Whether depicting a quizzical camel or a befuddled Adam, he creates expressions that bring the characters to life. Every detail of his images — Noah’s beard and eyebrows, a lion’s mane, a shark’s teeth — dance with movement and personality. Young and old alike find themselves smiling.

 

Skilled in a wide range of software, Lassetter begins with a rough pencil sketch. He then scans that sketch into Adobe Illustrator and lays down vector shapes and colors. In Photoshop, he combines his creation with photos or other images. The process typically takes four to five hours.

 

The reward for Lassetter has been not only a successful career, but also a joyful one. “If I could have just a few people look at my work
and smile, to me, that’s very rewarding.”

 

Crittertoons — Fun in Words and Images

While Rob Lassetter was painting the walls at Francis Wheeler High, his friend Richard Gruhn was being inspired by Ogden Nash’s poem, “The Trouble With a Kitten.” So, Gruhn created “The Trouble With a Fish,” and immediately took it to Lassetter to illustrate.

 

Forty-some years later, Gruhn, who has dedicated himself to rescuing animals, has continued to compose his humorous stories as another way to honor animals. And again, he turned to Lassetter — this time to illustrate Crittertoons, Fun Poems About the Animal Kingdom, a collection of rhymes spotlighting animals from ant to zebra, published in 2020. A Crittertoons activity book is in the works.

 

Both men agree that their collaboration is almost effortless.

 

I springboard off of his words; it’s amazing,” Lassetter says.

 

Gruhn concurs, adding, “There was no one else I wanted to do the book. Robby brought Crittertoons to life, and for that, I am incredibly grateful and blessed.”

 

For more information about Lassetter’s work, you may reach him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..