Charly Palmer was born in 1960 in Fayette, Alabama and raised in Milwaukee before relocating to Chicago to study Art and Design at American Academy of Art and School of the Art Institute. As a graphic designer and illustrator, he ran a successful design studio with a Fortune 500 clientele and has taught design, illustration, and painting at the post-secondary level at Spelman College, among others. He recently became the first African American guest lecturer at UCLA and was awarded Visiting Fellow in Race and Ethnicity, under the auspices of the Mellon Practitioner Fellowship, at Brown University.

Charly Palmer is widely recognized not just as a fine artist but also as an illustrator of children’s books, a teacher, and a mentor. He is highly sought after for public commissions; he created the posters for the 1996 Olympics and is a part of the City of Atlanta art collection. Both Fisk University and Howard University commissioned him to execute original artwork commemorating their 150th anniversaries, and he was hired to create 26 portraits of Green Bay Packers players, which now hang in the VIP and private booths of Lambeau Field. Recently, he was selected by John Legend to create a portrait for the cover of his album “Bigger Love,” released in June 2020, and by Time Magazine to create the cover and interior art for their July 6/ July 13, 2020 issue. Most recently, he was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine.

Books he has illustrated include There’s A Dragon In My Closet, My Rainy Day Rocket Ship, I Can Write the World, All Boys Aren’t Blue, and Mama Africa, a children’s book chronicling the life of Miriam Makeba, for which he received the 2018 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award.

Palmer is currently curating a major event for the LA Lakers. Devoted to his fine art career, he lives and works in Atlanta, GA.