In
1966, I was born smack in the middle of a typical suburban family
with five children. I have two older brothers and two younger
sisters. We kept our mother busy while my father worked long
hours at IBM. Most of my childhood was spent in my head. I was
usually in some battle in World War II, running from Dinosaurs
in prehistoric times, or piloting a spaceship across the universe.
I have always loved drawing this stuff. To this day I develop
characters and environments based on worlds I first created
when I was three. I am grateful to my mother who kept us surrounded
with art. I come from a long line of artists and my grandmother,
Grace Boyd, was the best. She died before I was born, but her
fantastic paintings and drawings were all around us.
I
was born in Westport, Connecticut, but I do not consider
it my hometown. Since my father worked for IBM, we moved
often. I think being on the move during my formative years
has been the reason I tend to create books about returning
home. By the time I graduated from high school we were living
in Boulder, Colorado. At the University of Colorado, I began
my long college career which has never really ended. I first
thought I was going to be some sort of scientist so I took
all kinds of science and math classes. I was always good
at math, but I could not see myself working in some lab.
Along the way I continued to draw and create worlds as I
always have. My friends and teachers were amazed. Around
the time when I should have been graduating, I decided to
start over and go to art school at the School of Visual Arts
in New York City. There, in 1992, I finally graduated. I
teach an art class there today.
One
of my illustration teachers, William Low introduced me to
Laura Godwin, a children’s book
editor at Henry Holt and Company. She gave me my first professional
art job to illustrate a little science book, Frozen Man written
by David Getz. I worked really hard on that book. Laura was
impressed; so I was offered to illustrate a picture book,
Night Driving written
by John Coy. Again I did the best illustrations I knew how,
like my life depended on it. One drawing of a car going over
a bridge made my girlfriend cry. She said, “Oh,
you can draw.” We were then married in 1995.
Night
Driving was first published in 1996
and received praise from critics and won some awards.
Laura Godwin then offered me the best of all offers;
I could write and illustrate whatever I wanted. I was
given a nice advance and moved with my new wife back
to Colorado. I had a contact but no story. I waited
for an idea to come by hiking, watching television,
and reading. My wife said, “Enough, go
make some money while you’re waiting.” So I took
a job driving a little truck, delivering doorknobs to the
new housing developments popping up around Denver. I drove
across a lot of flat desert land to deliver those knobs.
The beautiful mountains that haunted my dreams and made me
move back seemed so far away. One day while watching a television
documentary about the Oregon Trail the story Little
Bunny on the Move came into
my mind.
Little
Bunny on the Move was published in 1999. It
put me on the map as a children’s book author and illustrator
winning a Best Illustrated Book of the Year from
the New York Times. I still continue to move around the country
looking for new landscapes and experience different cultures.
I have children now, so I am teaching them the love of stories
and being nomads. With each move, I created Hondo
and Fabian, T
is for Terrible, and soon to be released Moon
Plane. In 2003
Hondo and Fabian won a Caldecott Honor to go with many other
awards including another Best Illustrated Book of the
Year from the New York Times. All
this has given me a few more years as a credible artist.
As a storyteller, I am researching different ways of bringing
the characters alive. I am looking forward to creating animation
and different kinds of books for past and future characters.
I need to get them out of my head!
