Rain and the return of Edna.

My blogging thoughts are a little muddied this week. I'm trying to get a handle on a new idea. I am both painfully avoiding it while somehow simultaneously fretting over little details that don't matter yet. Luckily, it's raining outside. I'm chained to the house. I must work.

I tend to tape things to the wall and stare at them for weeks on end. Sometimes longer. I'll do this with artwork that is 99% done, little drawings by Philip, and pictures that I like. I really like using abandoned old photographs I find in junk stores or antique shops. I steal from them a few different ways (which I'm sure I'll dissect in subsequent posts).

With a modern photograph, there is only a short delay from making a fake smile and the flash going off. In these old photographs, the subjects had to stay still a little too long and most of the time you can see their face falling into an awkward stare. I like that.

And so we find ourselves back to my new ideas and Edna (see post below if you've missed her introduction). Edna has been posted to the wall for awhile as well. She's also making her way into some sketches, like the one below.

Click on the image to see it up close. Thanks for reading!

This post may not be appropriate for children.

Some years ago I was hired to work in a bookstore in New York. I learned a lot, I met friends who never cease to help me out (and I have yet to pay back), and without them I wouldn't be drawing and I don't think Phil would have been published yet. At this job I met my friend, illustrator George O'Connor, who is quite funny. I am (especially at first) a very nervous person. I'm shy, I can be really awkward, a little inept socially, and, in polite company, a little prudish. For example, I get preoccupied with regret and forget to walk while moving my arms. George pointed it out.

George would rearrange the children's toys to model age-inappropriate behavior. It was funny, but maybe not the first or second place my mind would go. Also, a lot of children's books are made without thinking of innuendo. But George was pretty good at finding them. This thing seems to happen all the time. I'm sure you can think of a statue or painting where there was an unintended consequence.

I give you this background information because while I was illustrating my first book, each spread got the George O'Connor test. I had a few worrisome characters to deal with. An elephant who had a trunk and a tortoise...who has a tortoise head, which could be surprisingly phallic.


I think I did okay. Maybe when the book comes out, George will find something. But George, dear friend, if you read this, you were in my thoughts for every picture I made.


That's it for today! Click on the images to see them up close. 'Til next time.

Ideas, coming and going.

Hello! I've said before that I avoid my desk quite often and the picture on the left is an illustration of that. That's my dog, Wednesday, at work with me in our backyard. I'm in the beginning stages of of working out a new story idea. For me, this is like walking around with a constant headache. I think my personality gets a little severe around this time. Minute to minute, I'm a genius or a complete failure. I'll take it though, if it means I get to live in the picture you're looking at on the left. No complaints here!

Everyone tends to work in their own chaos (for instance, my mother's is color coordinated push pins, my old boss made piles of stuff on the floor) and here is a little of mine. What is missing is a coffee cup. I'm assuming it was in my hand as I took this picture.


What you're looking at here are some bike references (try drawing one out of your head-it's impossible), some animal references from a nature guide Phil had when he was a kid, an old pill bottle full of eraser pieces, my fancy metal pencil box, a pad of paper and my notebook of secrets.

These are some ideas I'm knocking around. Actually, the one above sort of got scrapped.

That's Edna.

Edna has porcupine quills if it's not clear in this rough sketch. One of the tough things about this stage of the game is knowing what to include and what to get rid of. Most of what I've done in the last month has been scrapped. But Edna stays.

Ta ta for now!

Oliver Uberti, who will write gooder than me.

Bonus post for the day! My friend Ollie is a design editor for National Geographic Magazine. He's started a blog about that will "reveal secrets of our art and design." Check it out!

Two thieves, married.

Once Philip and I have a few books out, I think it might be interesting to find examples where we steal from each other. We live in the upstairs apartment in this little pink house on the left. In this little pink house there is a little tiny room when Phil and I sit at our drawing tables (unless I am avoiding that room, which happens...often). It's inevitable that some ideas get passed from one person to another. Some of the time we do it on purpose and other times we don't even realize it until the one of us points it out. Often we help one another draw something that isn't quite working. Very often I ask Phil to hold something, or raise his eyebrows and make a goofy smile. Poor Philip.

Anyway, as far as the stealing goes, here are some examples of what I mean. The first image is the cover of Phil's book Creamed Tuna Fish and Peas on Toast (coming out Oct. 1st!).


Now see if you can spot how I unknowingly stole an idea from him (you'll probably have to click on the image). This is a picture from A Sick Day for Amos McGee, which will come out eventually.



Find it? Here it is.


That's just one example of what is probably many. Thanks for reading! 'Til next time!