Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell are a brother and sister design and illustration team who have been working together for over 10 years as Studio SSS. They have created hundreds of magazine and book illustrations, thousands of greeting card designs, and, of course, many super tasty illustrated recipes!

Salli lives in comfy Hudson, OH with her 4 crazy kitties, 2 teenage boys, and handsome husband, David. Salli’s love for food illustration is best summed up by her son, Lee, who said: “Hey Mom, how about a little less drawing and a little more cooking?!” 

Nate lives in Berlin, Germany with his boyfriend, Jim, and their 4 suitcases. Nate does most of his work sitting at his kitchen counter, usually while testing out a fun new recipe from They Draw & Cook! 

You can see more of Nate's work on his personal map-making site, IDrawMaps, and follow Salli on her personal blog, ManicExpresssive, and see what Nate and Salli produce together as the design studio, Studio SSS.

Nate and Salli came up with the idea of They Draw & Cook while on a family vacation. Nate was trying to recreate a favorite dish - fettucine with figs in a balsamic butter sauce - while Salli sat at the counter with her watercolors painting the crate of figs. This led them to realize how fun it was to illustrate food. They then started talking about creating a little recipe book for friends, family, and clients. They asked some of their artist pals to help, but never got enough recipes to justify printing a book, so Nate built a quick blog and Salli started to spread the word - it spread fast! They Draw & Cook now contains the biggest and best collection of illustrated recipes anywhere.

The artists whose work you see in this website are a varied and talented bunch. Some of them are professional illustrators and practicing artists, while others are passionate doodlers and drawers, and a few have only recently begun to draw. A special thanks goes out to all them for joining in the fun and helping turn They Draw & Cook into a treasure trove of inspiration!