SMELLS LIKE OLD SKETCHBOOK

So while you're waiting for me 

to finish my latest book of sketchiness

why dontcha take a look at

this big fat sandwich

of an old school sketchbook

instead:

Yes, 

I'm proud to say that this one,

circa 1998 to 2000 or so,

earned itself a Caldacott Medal.

And when I say

"earned"

I mean

stole from Mo Willems' office.

Regardless,

this baby is packed

with all sorts of 

late 90's

photos:

Wishes...

and odd doodles...

At this time in my life

I was working as a director on 

Sheep In The Big City:

And all the while I was waiting to see what would happen

with the pilot I had recently made at Cartoon Network.

Something called 

Codename: Kids Next Door.

So the book has a lot of early 

KND ideas in it:

There's even a sketch of Numbuh Two 

by Maxwell Atoms:

And then one day it happened.

KND was greenlit to series.

 I left for a two week vacation 

to Japan the next day:

Production began when I got back.

Here are some rough ideas for the KND's 

snow gear in Operation: ARCTIC:

After a year of having Mr. Willems 

abuse my Sheep drawings,

I didn't feel so bad making 

fun of his KND drawings:

I really like

this early sketch of 

Numbuh One and Lizzie

I did:

But when

supreme storyboard artist 

Guy Moore

drew stuff like this 

I crapped in my pants,

ran home to change,

and then promptly 

crapped my pants again:

Here's an all-mighty ratings report:

Here's an example of a storycard we'd hang on the wall:

The ATT represents 

one of our story types:

ATTACK - The KND are attacking something

DEFENSE - The KND are attacked BY something or someone

BUDDY- Focus is on two characters

TEAM - A story with all 5 characters as a team

SOLO - A story that focuses on one character

We always tried to spread the stories out 

so we didn't get too many of the 

same type too close together.

The other side of the card had a brief synopsis of the story:

I always LOVED how hyper-mega-awesome 

storyboard artist Kim Arndt 

drew the characters:

I could go on and on.

This books is just 

PACKED 

with fun stuff.

Literally:

Look...

I know I say it all the time.

But you should keep a sketchbook.

Seriously.

Just shut up and do it.

You'll be glad you did 

when you dig it out years later.