R.E.M. were a Georgia-born alternative rock band best known for their hits "Losing My Religion" and "Everybody Hurts." Founding members Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe played their first show on April 5, 1980, at a friend's birthday party in an abandoned church in Athens, Georgia. From that point forward until 2011, when they decided to call it a day, the band released fifteen albums, toured the world, won multiple GRAMMYs, two Billboard Music Awards, twelve MTV Video Music Awards, and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, leaving a lasting legacy of great songs that defined an era.

Paul Hoppe has illustrated various children's books, including Good Vibrations, with song lyrics by Mike Love and Brian Wilson; How Did Humans Go Extinct? by Johnny Marciano; Neymar: A Soccer Dream Come True by Mina Javaherbin; and The Woods, which he also wrote. His work has appeared in publications such as the New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. During the summer, Hoppe teaches sequential art at the School of Visual Arts. His work has been honored by the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, and American Illustration, among others. Originally from Poland and raised in Germany, Hoppe works from a shared studio in the Pencil Factory in Brooklyn, and lives in Queens.

ShinYeon Moon is an illustrator, educator, and aspirational shiny happy person based in New York. She holds an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from the School of Visual Arts. Moon's work can be found in print and online publications as well as gallery exhibitions.