Artist Statement
The Orndorff’s You’d Better Believe It series of books that set out to prove the existence of supernatural creatures like vampires, werewolves, mermaids, dragons, and cryptids. Inspired by the mysticism, magic, and supernatural themes found in movies like Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, and television series like Sleepy Hollow and The Librarians, the concept for the series draws most heavily on the paperback “True Ghost Stories” series by Ripley’s Believe it or Not! The process for creating this series begins with first designing the covers by hand and then reworking it digitally in Adobe Illustrator. The cover illustrations allude to the subject of the book without clearly giving it away, attracting readers’ attention and forcing them to open the book to learn more, a quality that is both functional in terms of drawing readers into the pages but also representative of the mysteriousness of the subjects.
About the Artist
Leo Orndorff was born and raised in York County of Pennsylvania. He has lived in Glenville his entire life, attending Delone Catholic High School within McSherrystown. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from York College in 2021 and has achieved the Dean’s List for a number of semesters. His major is in Graphic Design with his works focused on graphic imaging and illustration. Aside from writing creative short stories, one of his desires is to work for a card company like Hallmark in creating memorable, festive, and funny cards. He’s currently working part time on his family’s farm, Tintagel Farm, as a helping hand; making him someone who doesn’t mind doing a few manual labors.
York College Galleries 