Intrest about William Zimmerman

Items of Interest about William Zimmerman

At an early age, Bill Zimmerman was greatly influenced by John James Audubon. A neighbor had a book of Audubon prints and Bill did his best to make colored pencil pictures that looked like the prints in that book. The first book that Bill illustrated was a spiral bound sketchpad of watercolor and pencil bird pictures. As a youngster Bill also did "commission" pieces for neighbors.

Artwork by William Zimmerman, 10 to 14 years of age

Bill's first published book was Top Flight, a field guide to waterfowl that he did with John Ruthven. Bill had been working in the greeting card business until John, a friend and fellow bird artist from Ohio, contacted him to collaborate on this color-coded field guide. It was published in 1965.

First published book

Since that first book, Bill has illustrated a number of books:

Waterfowl of North America
The Birds of Indiana
The Birds of Illinois
The Birds of Ohio
The Birds of Kentucky
Woodpeckers of North America
Birds of the Oxbow

Many of the original paintings for The Birds of Indiana are hanging in Jordan Hall at Indiana University in Bloomington, In.

Collection of some of the many books on birds.

More Items of Interest about William Zimmerman

Sources of information: From interviews with William Zimmerman

All artwork is protected by copyright of the artist.

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