Silly Racoon
2018 Applied Arts
Illustration Award
I'm a Canadian illustrator living on Pigeon Lake,* Ontario with my husband and our cat Snooli.
I find inspiration in animals and nature (not so much snakes though). It's especially meaningful for me to share that profound connection through my art. I enjoy portraying animals with a mix of sass, humour, and tenderness and bringing their environments to life on the page. I use pencil, crayon, and watercolour, combined with digital techniques.
I've had the pleasure of illustrating for clients on various projects including books, covers, magazines, coins, posters, museum exhibits, and film. If you have a project in mind, please feel free to contact me at june.steube@icloud.com
Awards & Honours include:
2023 Eureka! Gold Award California Reading Nonfiction Children's Book for 'Dig, Dance, Dive', Owlkids Books
2022 Winner of the Endies Award for 'Dig, Dance. Dive', Owlkids Books, Endpapers 'Best Energy' category.
2020 The Beaver - Competition winner for the Beaver coin in the 'O Canada Silver Dollar Series', The Royal Canadian Mint
2020 Interview with Illustrator June Steube on Rhys Keller's 'Words that Show the Way'
2019 Canada East SCBWI Illustration Portfolio People's Choice Award
2019 Honorable Mention Canada East SCBWI Rising Kite Diversity Scholarship
2019 2nd Place Brightness Magazine Annual Illustration Awards: Book Category
2019 Article: June Steube, A Close Connection to Nature, Brightness Magazine Issue 14,
2019 Honorable Mention Writing with the Stars Competition
2018 Applied Arts Illustration Award
Merit Award, Directions Art Director's Club Toronto
Honorable Mentions, Canadian Association of Photographers and Illustrators
Gold Orville Parks Award, Second Place and Honorable Mentions, Society of Medical Illustrators
Art in the Service of Science Exhibit, The Smithsonian, Washington DC
Clients include:
Owlkids Books
The Royal Canadian Mint
The Caterpillar Magazine
Key Porter Books
TriStar Motion Pictures
Oxford University Press
The Canadian Museum of Nature
Canada Post
Mercantile Bank
The Royal Ontario Museum
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
Macleans Magazine
Chatelaine Magazine
Canadian Living
McClelland and Stewart Publishers
Perot Museum Dallas Texas
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The National Research Council of Canada
Beaver Coin image © 2021 Royal Canadian Mint.
All rights reserved
* With respect, I acknowledge that we are situated on Mississauga lands and the traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig and Chippewa Nations, including Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations known collectively as the Williams Treaty First Nations. I am grateful for the opportunity to work and live here and share in all its bountiful resources. I thank all the generations of people who have taken care of this land - for thousands of years.