Bryan “Breadwig” Ballinger is a muralist, toy designer, and children’s book author and illustrator. He graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design with a degree in Illustration & has a master’s degree in Writing for Children from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

He was lead illustrator for the first version of the award-winning Encarta CD-ROM encyclopedia as well as the Explorapedia children’s encyclopedia series. For five years, Bryan was the 3D Design Lead at Big Idea Productions, the producers of the VeggieTales children’s videos. He was a professor of Digital Media Arts at Huntington University in Indiana for 16 years.

Bryan is the author and illustrator of Animal Gas: A Farty Farce (2015, Union Square Kids), a quirky scratch and sniff children’s picture book as well as 3 POW! Kids Books titles, The Big Wig Parade (2023), Counting Cows (2024), & The Story of a Pig Named Joe and his Quest to be Fancy (2024), each story featuring whimsical wacky animals up to varying hijinks that keep young readers laughing ‘til the end of the book!

Bryan is currently the 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, the world’s largest children’s museum. He runs a program that teaches the young and young at heart all about the creativity of illustration!