About Tanya Hales:

When Tanya Hales was a baby, she enjoyed books by chewing them to pieces before eventually moving on to the higher art of reading. Tanya splits her time between her work as a writer, an illustrator, and a mother, all of which she loves intensely. She now lives in Utah with her family, illustrating coloring books, writing YA fantasy, making cute stickers, and daydreaming constantly about imaginary worlds.

Tanya is the creator of the Animal Magica fantasy coloring book series, books made in collaboration with dozens of other authors who contributed beautiful short stores to pair with the art.

Tanya also is the author of YA epic fantasy, including the upcoming Scorched Queen Saga and the Slayer and the Prince Saga.

 

 

 

 

A longer look at my creative career:

In preschool, I won my first art contest. It was for a coloring page of an easter egg that I scribbled on with probably ten pounds of chalk. I’m sure my parents knew then that I was destined for greatness. 🤣

I began writing my first novel in 5^th grade. It was about four kids from a jungle village who discover stones that let that talk to animals and learn it’s their destiny to save the world. I‘ve been writing fantasy stories ever since, and I still include animal companions whenever I can.

As an older teen, I sold my art for the first time at a high school event, and I was hooked.

In college, I learned that I was actually a very average artist, not so amazing as I’d thought, so I put my back into studying illustration and focused mainly on making fantasy comics.

After graduating, the magic truly began when I met James A. Owen, a fantasy author/illustrator at a comic convention. He recommended I go to an annual writing conference called Superstars Writing Seminars. He inspired me, so I gave the conference a try.

It was the best decision for my career that I ever made, and now I go back every year.

Through connections I made at Superstars, I gained the opportunities courage, skills, and encouragement to begin writing short stories and to submit to various anthologies. As of 2024, I have 8 of these stories published.

When my daughter was young, she got really into coloring books, specifically the complex yet whimsical adult ones. I wanted to make my own coloring book for her, and so Animal Magica vol. 1 was born. And because I’m an author, I naturally included flash fiction with each of the fantasy illustrations.

I made many friends at Superstars Writing Seminars over the years, including my editor, Joshua Essoe. I pitched an idea to him that for Animal Magica vol. 2 I was thinking of inviting other authors to write the stories that went with each illustration, and he encouraged me to go big, asking not just my author friends but also some of my bestselling author mentors.

And that’s how James A. Owen and Kevin J. Anderson came to write stores for Animal Magica vol. 2, which made almost $10,000 on Kickstarter.

After finding lots of success through my art, my focus is now on publishing the many fantasy novels I have finished writing but have been sitting on because of my perfectionism.

I’m excited to share more of my art and stories with you.  

 

 

 

More personal bio:

Hi, my name is Tanya Hales. I grew up on a tiny farm in a tiny community in Southern Utah, and I love animals, art, and most of all, stories.

I grew up chasing chickens, feeding cows, and catching bugs and toads. When I was really young, my mother would draw pictures of animals for me to color, and when I was older, I had a huge encyclopedia of dogs that I used as reference to help me draw. I loved watching Pokemon and Kiki’s Delivery Service. I loved playing imagination games with my friends.

It’s fun to look back on all my experiences, preferences, and influences, because I feel like there’s no other thing I could have logically become but a nature-loving fantasy author and illustrator.

And I love that. I love my life.

After living in Arizona, Idaho, and Oregon, I’m back to living in Utah. I’m the mother of four young kids who keep me very busy, but apart from my writing and art, they and my husband are my entire world.

It’s funny. As a kid, I never played with any kind of dolls. I played with toy animals and reenacted wars between stuffed dogs and cats. I didn’t think much about having children. But, in an ironic twist, I developed bad allergies as a teen to anything with fur or feathers, and I also became quite romantic, wanting to find my soul mate and start a family with him.

In college, I did find my soul mate, and he completes me in every way. We got married and had our first daughter a few years later. I graduated with my BA while very, very pregnant. 😂

And now, with four children total, I can’t imagine life without them. They make the world so beautiful and give me a new, magical perspective to everything. (Admittedly, I sometimes daydream about what it would be like to have a day where no small person bothers me and I can just write and work on crafts for many blissfully peaceful hours, but what mother doesn’t crave that on occasion. 😜)

My husband, Jacob, has supported me on all my creative artistic adventures, even getting the kids ready for school each morning so I can get a little extra writing time. I love him more than words can say.

I know I wouldn’t be half as far along in my career without the help of my amazing writing group, my supportive parents, Jacob, and my Superstars tribe.

I love making new creative friends, so feel free to reach out to me here or talk to me on social media. ❤️