I first heard about author/illustrator Jeff Newman through an illustration and cartooning blog called Drawn! (based somewhere in Canada, I think. With the .ca and all). Drawn! is a great resource for new stuff in comics and illustration and a good source for inspiration. They did a blog post on Jeff's stuff cause someone there had seen and liked his book Hippo! No, Rhino. There was a link to his site as well. I was really impressed with his work. Very smart, fresh, creative, inventive. All the right stuff. A while later, I noticed he too had also donated a snowflake to this year's Robert's Snow fund raiser (also very cool). In lieu of promotion, the Robert's Snow folks were doing interviews with all the snowflake illustrators. After seeing his interview, I saw Jeff was not too far from me. So a couple weeks back, we met for lunch at The Brat Stop in Kenosha, WI (bout halfway between him and me).
It was my first illustrator blind date. Not weird. Actually, it was awesome. We talked art and the biz forever. I don't get as much of this as I need. He's a real nice fella and we have much in common in practice and likes and also frustrations. Good guy, that Jeff. He got a brat ("Brat Stop" and all). I had what Julie and I always get when we're there...a Wisconsin grilled cheese (what a vegetarian eats at The Brat Stop).
Also did a bit of "show and tell", sharing our past and present projects. Saw some behind-the-scenes Newman in his kick-butt sketch book and then his two published books. I was blown away after seeing Hippo for the first time. I'd seen the cover and what samples he's got on his site, but nothing else. An amazing book. Check it out, really.
Cool times. Looking forward to our next 'sconsin illustrators caucus. Cheese. Brats. Art.
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