Frequently Asked Questions

 When did you start drawing?

I grew up drawing and telling stories with my twin brother, Gavin. We created epic scenes of pirate ships, space battles, dinosaurs, and underwater adventures.

Now Gavin is a professional painter, and I draw comics and children’s books. Not much different from when we were five years old. Except I’m a little bit better than I used to be at drawing horses, bicycles, and hands.

Was there ever a time you stopped drawing?

After college I took the strange artistic career path of entering dental school. This was a rigorous program where all my free time was consumed by studying. I often wondered if I’d have the time, energy, and motivation to keep going with my comics work.

But I persisted, with the help of lots of Saturday morning coffee and very little social life. It wasn’t always fun, but I’m glad I kept going.

Later in life I had a period of mild depression (a result of serious life stuff happening at the time) where I didn’t feel much like drawing. When I was feeling better I used this strange feeling of being disconnected from the work I love to write a book called THE YEAR I STOPPED DRAWING. I connected my emotions of sadness and frustration with those of the main character, Adam Zanes.

What was the first book you ever made?

In elementary school I did some great work, including an illustrated story where the main character shrinks in size and surfs a toothbrush in the bathroom sink, a short story where the family doctor turns out to be a terrible monster, and a holiday story that involved evil Christmas elves and Thanksgiving turkeys living on a secret base on the dark side of the moon.

But perhaps my first book was “If You Give a Monkey an Ice Cream Cone”: a rip-off of the famous book IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE. In my version a monkey eats a bunch of dairy products and gets really full.

I actually advocate copying your favorite stories and artist when you’re starting out. It’s a great way to learn how to draw a character, craft a narrative, and see what makes a story work. Just don’t try to sell it to a publisher…

Why do you like poetry so much?

Why don’t YOU?

I think it stems from my early reading experiences. Shel Silverstein was a favorite of me, my dad, and my brothers (I think my mom liked him too). His poems were funny, weird, inspiring, and even a little scary.

Dr. Seuss was probably my favorite author, though I’m not sure I even knew it was poetry when I was a kid—he seemed to inhabit a different planet from all the other book creators.

The book I connect most to my love of poetry is an anthology called SING A SONG OF POPCORN: EVERY CHILD’S BOOK OF POEMS. It has poems by Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, e.e. cummings, Basho, Issa, and more. And it has magnificent illustrations by some of the all-time great (and Caldecott-winning) children’s book artists, including Leo and Diane Dillon, Maurice Sendak, Arnold Lobel, and Trina Schart Hyman.

Later I discovered the poetry of The Wu-Tang Clan, Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, and more. I’m still hooked.

Do you have any advice for young artists?

Keep drawing.

 Draw like yourself. It may take some time and experimentation to figure out how to draw like yourself. In the meantime, imitate the drawing styles of artists you love. Find out how they use their pen to make lines come to life.

Keep drawing. Don’t worry if your drawings don’t look exactly like you want. Don’t be afraid to show your drawings to other people.

Keep drawing.

How do I get my book published?

I could go into a boring explanation about traditional publishing versus self-publishing, literary agents, editors, etc. But my best advice is to make the best book you can. Make it look as close to the final book as you can—knowing that if you eventually get it published you may have to rewrite and redraw it multiple times.

Show it to people you trust and get their feedback. Revise it to make it better. Then you can find the resources to help get your book seen by more people through whatever form of publication you choose.

A great idea is important, sure, but making that idea is what will get your book noticed by others. Ideas are easy. Executing an idea from start to finish is the hard but necessary part.

I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. I’m still learning this lesson with every new project. I wonder, Can’t my agent, editor, and publishing team just see the perfect idea I have in my brain? Nope. And once I actually make the thing, I realize it’s far from perfect. That’s okay.

Once you make it, you can make it better.

Any last words of advice?

If you love to write, keep writing.

If you love to draw, keep drawing.

The world is waiting to see what you will create.