SCRUMDILLY-DO!

Someone flipped me this nice little review of 1000 TIMES NO
over at a blog called SCRUMDILLY-DO!

Check it out over HERE!

And, as always, you can order a signed copy over YONDER!

The 22nd Children's Illustration Exhibit

Okay...

Let's say you're a sooper villain.
And you call yourself, I dunno, something like,

THE DE-PICTUREBOOKANATOR!

Because, you know...
You HATE picture books.
Especially people who MAKE them!
(like Jarrett J. Krosoczka... Grrrrrrrr!)

So what should your latest evil plan be?

How's about gathering your evil henchman and
heading out to Northampton, MA
to attack the opening night party for the
Children's Illustration Exhibit at the R. Michelson Gallery?!



GREAT IDEA, right?!

Except that you missed it.

Me?
I was totally there.
It just so happened to fall on the weekend I was visiting Mr. Willems.

And what a night it was!
Mr. Michelson's Gallery, in the heart of Northampton, is stunning.
Built in an old bank building with ultra high ceilings
and lots of nooks and crannies,
it is THE go-to place to see the work of local artists that have reached a worldwide audience.
And it specializes in picture book artists!
I'm talkin' folks like:

Eric Carle
Kadir Nelson
Tony DiTerlizzi
Barry Moser
Rebecca Guay
Scott Fischer
Mo Willems
(who's work showed in the old bank vault)



and honored guest of the evening:

Jules Feiffer!



A lot of those people were on-hand that evening, too.
In fact, here's a picture of all the folks who were there that have a published picture book:


(check out the R. Michelson Gallery's Facebook page to see who (most of) these people are!)
(that's me in the back)

It was a really fun night, hanging out with old friends and new!

If you're ever in Northampton,
you should stop by the R. Michelson Gallery.

Unless you're a sooper villain who hates picture books, that is.

A VISIT TO KNUFFLE MANOR

You know that secret project me and Mo Willems have been working on?

Well, this post isn't about that.

It's about a new one.
(Although I assure you the first one is totally rockin' the casbah)

This new project required a trip to Knuffle Manor
for some serious brainstorming
so I hopped on the Warburton Laboratories Inc corporate jet
and made my way to Northampton, Massachusetts.

We had an amazing time kicking around stories, characters and ideas.
But what were we gonna do?
Sit around WORKING all weekend?

Ew.

Fortunately there was plenty to do that weekend,
like visiting the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art!



I wasn't gonna miss a chance to see Mo's first
soopergiantbig metal sculpture in person:



The sculpture was great, but kinda paled in comparison to the fact that
my book was on prominent display in the gift shop:



And NO... i didn't sneak some copies in and put them there!
They were like that when I arrived, thank you.

While there, we stopped in to see the legendary Jules Pfieffer,
whose work the gallery had a big show for.



He was also in town to be honored at the R. Michelson Gallery's 22nd Annual Children's Illustration Show.
But more on that in the next post.

I'm a couple episodes behind on watching The Walking Dead!

XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN

I always liked this show when it was running on WB.
Great designs.
Awesome action.
And funny, too.



So I was excited to meet Christy Hui, the creator of the show.
We were introduced by our mutual voice director
(the mighty Collette "Sunderwoman" Sunderman)
and met in Santa Monica for some Japanese food and animation talk.

Joined by her fiance, we talked about our respective shows...
the networks they were on...
the artists we worked with...
our top secret future projects...
and why some people like uni and other don't.



(I don't)

And then the sketchbook came out.
Christy protested fiercely,
claiming to be a writer and not an artist.

So I told her to write something.



And look what I got:



Not an artist, eh?
I think it's pretty rockin'.

Anyway... we had an AWESOME evening and
hopefully we'll do it again some time!
In the meantime, keep an eye out for her latest project that's in the pipeline.

It's gonna be fun!

THERE IS ANOTHER!

Remember when I posted my 7 year old son's sketchbook over HERE!

It was BRILLIANT, right?!

But guess what...
There is another.
A 4 year old.
And he, too, wields the power of sketchiness!

As you can see, K went with an unadorned,
right-out-of-the-store look for his cover.


It's clearly his comment on the crass commercialism
that's infected the current zeitgeist.

I think this piece will be important 25 years from now:


Brad and Angelina wanted to buy this for some outrageous sum
but K hated the idea of his art rotting away in one of their mansions,
unseen by the people.


Demi-European Macro-Politics is a frequent subject of K's:



You know, I appreciate Byzantine whimsy as much as the next guy,
but even I agree this one's kinda too much.



Pretentious?
Or poignant?
You decide.



This was done the day after being put to bed early for throwing
hot dog bits at his brother.
You can really see where rage meets shame.



Whatever...
Even I don't get this one:



Ethical nihilism, I know.
But he's FOUR, for crying out loud.



Man's ability to create lunch...
and destroy it.



I apologize for this. Who would think a 4 year old has such a filthy mind?
But all art is filthy in it's own way.



War.
What IS it good for?



I know, right?
K makes me feel my sketchbooks are no better than the
mushy, woody pulp they were created from.

But that's why I keep trying.

Regardless, it's never too early to get your kid drawing, is it?
Get 'em a sketchbook and get 'em drawing.
Then keep it forever.

SEASON THREE!

The official word came in yesterday:

FISH HOOKS

IS

GREENLIT

TO

SEASON THREE!

And considering season two just started
airing on the Disney Channel,
that means there's a LOT more
Fish Hooks fun coming your way!

What's that?
Nice sweaters, you say?
Mustard yellow.
Big M on the front.
Marauders logo on the back.
One of our designers found them in a thrift store
and bought them for the crew.

Ya jealous.

CONGRATS to the entire crew for getting us here.
You guys rule the universe.

INSCRIBIN' IT!

Sometimes when folks order a copy of
1000 TIMES NO
from the mighty printlab,
they ask for KND characters inscribed inside.

BOOM!


Done.

Why not browse the printlab yourself?
There's lots of rockin' prints with more to come!
(eventually)
Check it

HERE!

SKETCHBOOK JR

It's kind of embarrasing when your 7 year old son
is rockin' better sketchbooks than you are.

Yeah, both my little maniacs started keeping sketchbooks recently.
The three of us hang out in the home office and doodle before dinner or
in an attempt to delay bedtime.

Just recently P finished his very first book:


So what ended up on its pages?

Bacon, of course:


Batman:


Beyblades:


Spiderman:


Ninjas:


Star Wars weaponry:


Pokemon:


Legos:


Angry Birds:


He liked when I showed him how simple it is to show
different expressions on a face so he did a bunch of his own:


Sometimes he takes stuff he sees in my sketchbook:


And makes it better:


And sometimes he writes stuff that makes you melt:


If you've got kids, why not get them a sketchbook and start doodling together?

S'fun!