on not taking the easy way

A man is crawling around under a lamp post late at night.

A friend passes by and asks him what he's doing.

"I dropped my key," says the man, "and I'm looking for it."

"Let me help you" says his friend.

The man and his friend search for the key for almost an hour, but can't find it. Eventually, the friend says, "it doesn't seem to be here. Are you sure that this is where you dropped it?"

"Oh no," says the man, "I dropped it in the garden."

"Then why are we looking under the lamp post? asked the friend.

"There's more light here" answers the man.

heavy burden, light heart

From the playful mind of Lin Yutang: "Only he who handles his ideas lightly is master of his ideas. Seriousness, after all, is only a sign of effort, and effort is a sign of imperfect mastery."

I'm thinking of this as I'm trying to create a comic masterpiece. To remain spontaneous, yet aim for greatness. As my editor tells me: "Don't over think it."

Can one aim for spontaneity?

We'll see.

let me tell ya ...

Took a swan dive into concepting art for my new book this week. Diving also into looking at the great ink artists in the past. Robert Lawson is one of the very best. William Heath Robinson's work had such a sweet, quiet humor as well as a dynamic sense of space and design.

playing encouraged

I'm starting to brainstorm some concepts for my next book. The beginning of a project is invariably the most fun and exciting. Endless possibilities and high hopes. Limitations and considerations are not discernible just yet. I ran in to this brilliant bit of wisdom recently: "If you can't solve a problem, it's because you're playing by the rules."

I'm going to try to keep that in mind during this phase of the game.

the gory details

Well, it's a done deal. I'll be doing illustrations for Amy Krouse Rosenthal's new book. Maria Modugno at HarperCollins is the editor.

I feel gosh darn honored to be let loose among the great illustrators who have done Amy's wonderful books. Tom Lichtenheld, Jane Dyer and the fabulous Jen Corace.

Many thanks (and a box of Fran's chocolates-- simply the best in the world,) go to my agent Steven Malk.

wonderful news

Contracts have not been signed, minutia have not been hammered minuter, but I suppose can say that I have been offered a children's book to illustrate for HarperCollins.

The fabulous Steven Malk, my agent, procured this very quirky, funny book, and tells me the editor is fantastic to work with. The author has spent time on The New York Times bestseller list! I'll be doing quite a number of cartoons for it, I think I'm going to really, really enjoy this project.

All I can add is Yippie!