Friday, December 20, 2019

The End


Happy end of 2019! Next year I'm looking forward to the release of a new book that includes this comic and all my others on reading, writing, and literature. You can pre-order I WILL JUDGE YOU BY YOUR BOOKSHELF now! This comic also appears in the Sunday NY Times Book Review.

Friday, December 6, 2019

Holiday Reading


This comic appears in the Sunday NY Times Book Review. Looking for some great holiday gifts? You can purchase my Incidental Comics collection THE SHAPE OF IDEAS and my new picture book WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? wherever books are sold!

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Overthinking


My new picture book was named one of Amazon's best books of November! You can order it online here or find it wherever you get your books!

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The Path to Picture Books



Last week I celebrated the publication of my debut children's picture book, WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT?  Here is the story of how my first picture book came to be.

I've been a fan of picture books my entire life. One of the first books I loved was TUESDAY by David Wiesner. I still remember the wonder I felt when I opened the book for the first time. In just a few pages, I was lifted off the ground and transported on surreal flying lily pads. I was hooked.

I grew up. But I kept reading picture books. As an overworked dental student in my twenties, I would visit the Kansas City Public Library children's section and return home with a stack of books intended for children ages three to five. I was always paranoid a librarian would tap me on the shoulder and ask what I was doing there. This never happened, of course. Contrary to my imagination, most librarians are very nice people.

My first serious artistic pursuit was comics. Comics became my creative passion as well as a refuge from the long hours of studying the minutiae of teeth. But I still had a heart for picture books. Someday, I thought, I might try to write and draw one of my own.



In 2012, I was sure this time had arrived. Incidental Comics had an international audience and had been featured for the first time in the New York Times Book Review. I knew how to write. I knew how to draw. And now I had the final piece of the puzzle. My wife Kayla and I were expecting our first child. Now that I was a parent, I gave myself permission. I would write and draw a picture book! 

Thirty-two pages. A few hundred words. A simple, clear story. Easy, right? It wasn't. Problem was, I only knew how to write and draw comics. Picture books were an entirely new mode of expression. Instead of stacking panels in rows, I was puzzling over spreads and page turns. Instead of telling a story through my semi-autobiographical cartoon avatar, I was creating stories with entirely new and unexplored characters.

Over the next couple years, I started sending rough drafts of books to my literary agent. She showed them to some editors. They were met with what I assume was a collective yawn. Still, I kept trying. I wrote a book about a timid rhino. I wrote another helpful snail. I tried dozens of characters and approaches. I wrote about precocious twins. A magic eraser. A tapir learning to ride a tricycle. They weren't bad, necessarily. But nothing quite clicked. I often felt as if I was trying to summon, say, the voice of Mo Willems or Shel Silverstein, rather than discover my own voice.







   


Eventually, a thoughtful and experienced editor took serious interest in my stories. We were close, I was sure, to a book. We went through multiple revisions. I was hopeful that this would be my first ever picture book to be published. By this time, it was 2018 - six years after the realization that I wanted to create a picture book.

As the time approached for a new revision, I had the ultimate opportunity for a creative breakthrough: a week in the mountains at the Spruceton Inn Artist Residency. For the first time in my creative career, I would have an entire week free from school, work, and family. I believed a week of solitude in a scenic mountain setting would solve all my creative frustrations. When I returned, I would have a perfect picture book draft no publisher could refuse.

motel in snow.JPG
Spruceton Inn, photo courtesy of Casey Scieszka

As you might have guessed, it didn't work out this way. The Catskills were beautiful - and covered in a ridiculous amount of snow. The week I stayed at the Spruceton Inn, there was nearly three feet on the ground. I took long walks in the woods, wishing I owned snowshoes. I stayed warm with good coffee and the company of my gracious hosts, Casey and Steven, and Jo, a fellow artist resident.

As for the writing? I was growing increasingly frustrated. Away from my work and family routine, I couldn't get into a good working rhythm. The unlimited creative time had a paralyzing effect on my brain. I would sketch a page, then stare out the window at the snow and wonder what I could find around my room to eat.


The week was not entirely a creative disaster. I read a couple poetry books by Ted Kooser, and I filled my sketchbook with observations from the train ride and my nature walks. The trip directly inspired a few of my weekly comics. But my picture book draft did not turn out perfect. And it was not met with an immediate offer for publication. I was even more artistically frustrated than when I started.



I returned home, thankful to be back with my family and my familiar routines. It was the beginning of spring in Kansas, far from the snowy mountains. I began walking around my neighborhood in the evening, sketching at nightfall, enjoying the warming weather. And I resumed waking up early and working on comics before going off to my day job as an orthodontist.


Less than a month later, I received an email. Ariel Richardson, a picture book editor at Chronicle Books, was intrigued by one of my recent comics, Night. She wondered if I'd consider doing a bedtime-themed picture book. A spark went off in my brain. Ariel's email arrived on a Friday. By Monday, I'd drawn and written a draft of what would become my first picture book, WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT?

Holding the completed book in my hands, I'm amazed at how much of that first quick draft made it into the final book. I'm not sure whether to credit the years of false starts, the relief to my subconscious after my frustrating artist residency, or the sheer good luck of my soon-to-be editor crafting that email. I know the process may never again be quite so serendipitous. But I'm extremely proud of WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT?, and I'm grateful to be working in this wonderful medium. A huge thank you to my team at Chronicle Books: Ariel Richardson, Amelia Mack, and Abbie Goveia. They've been truly amazing to work with. And thanks to my family for all their support through this long journey. Here's to all the many picture books to come.





Postscript: As for the book that tormented me in the snowy Catskills... I'm proud to say it will eventually become a book of its own (albeit in much different form). Look for MY WORDS on bookshelves next Fall.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Book Launch!



My book WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? is on shelves today! Thanks to my family, the team at Chronicle Books, and everyone else who helped make my first picture book a reality.

Monday, October 28, 2019

The Haunted House







Happy Halloween! My new picture book WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? is out next week! Find it at your favorite local bookstore, or order it online here:

AMAZON (international shipping available): amzn.to/2ps40Qn


INDIEBOUND: bit.ly/2mYvD2u 

Friday, October 25, 2019

Downhill


My new picture book is out next month! You can order WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? online here (with free delivery worldwide) or get it from your favorite local bookstore.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Juggling


My new picture book is out soon! You can order WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? online here (with free delivery worldwide) or get it from your favorite local bookstore.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Fall Feeling

Also coming this fall... my new book! You can order WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? online here (with free delivery worldwide) or get it from your favorite local bookstore.

Friday, October 4, 2019

The Book Fair

This comic appears in this weekend's NY Times Book Review! It's inspired by memories of the Kansas State Fair. Posters are at my shop.

My debut children's picture book will be out next month. You can pre-order it here or wherever you get your books. Better yet, get it at your favorite local bookstore!

Monday, September 30, 2019

Coming soon...






My picture book WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? will be published next month! It's a poetic exploration of nighttime colors and a perfect bedtime read-aloud. I'll be sharing more images from the book and the bookmaking process as the November 5 publication date approaches. I'm beyond excited for people to read it!

In the meantime you can pre-order it from my favorite local bookstore, Watermark Books. If you're an international reader, Book Depository has free delivery worldwide.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Gradients


Here's a recent talk I gave on my 10 Rules for Creativity for a Pecha Kucha night sponsored by Wichita's NPR station.

My very first picture book will be out soon! You can pre-order WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT here or wherever you get your books.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Summer Colors



My first children's book, a book of nighttime colors, will be out in just a couple months! You can pre-order it here.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Walking

This comic was inspired by the book HOW TO WALK by Thich Nhat Hanh.

My debut children's picture book will be published soon! You can pre-order WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT here or wherever you get your books.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Bookshelf Organization



This was an old sketch that I updated for my upcoming book, I WILL JUDGE YOU BY YOUR BOOKSHELF. It will be published next Spring by Abrams Books, and you can pre-order it now! It's a collection of my comics on reading, writing, and book-hoarding. 

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Mooncatcher


For more nighttime colors, check out my new book, WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? You can now pre-order it, and it will be published this October by Chronicle Books.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

The Beloved Book



My first children's book will be published soon! You can pre-order it here.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT? Cover Reveal



Here's the cover of my debut children's picture book, WHAT COLOR IS NIGHT?

It will be published this Fall by Chronicle Books, and is now available for pre-order. I'll be sharing photos from the process and more art from the book as the release date approaches. Stay tuned!