Earl Thollander (born April 13, 1923, Kingsburg, California)[2] was an American artist, illustrator, author and a WWII U.S. Navy officer who is best known for his marine scene paintings, sketching, travel book writing and tour leading.

He was drawn to artistic pursuits from a young age, collecting stamps and making them into books.

He grew up in San Francisco and attended Mission High School, and City College.

Moving forward he married Janet Behr in 1947, and later on graduated to Landphere & Associates advertising agency as an illustrator.

[15][16][17] Earl had a great interest in traveling and started making artworks related to different parts of the world that he had visited.