My 2012 offerings (and more) at 7-Imp!

Please take a moment and head over to one of THE best kidlit blogs in the biz, 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Today, Julie (Jules!) Danielson has posted an extensive interview that talks up and shows off the books I have coming out in 2012. As well as my road to publication, my process, my filthy cluttered studio, and a weird bit about turkey butts. Jules does an amazing job, and it always shows. Please have a look here and leave a comment if just to say, "what up, bruh?"!

Together Again

Regular readers of this column may remember an interview conducted by James Preller (author of MIGHTY CASEY) with me (illustrator of MIGHTY CASEY) a while back. On Preller's blog here.

Today I turn the tables and interview MIGHTY CASEY's author, J. Preller. This is on our publisher's site/blog here, courtesy of Feiwel and Friends. And soon, believe it or not, Preller has interviewed me a second time and that will soon be up on the F+F blog as well. Sort of the second-string. Outtakes. Didn't make the first cut. Yeah, I know... ANOTHER interview. Groan, if you must.

You'll see. To come.

Go CASEY!

Cordell for Breakfast

Head on over to hip children's lit blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast today to see an illustrator profile Jules, of Seven, did on lil' ol' me. (Turns out she's a big Phyllis Root fan and got an advance copy of TOOT TOOT ZOOM!) She talks about my new titles, MIGHTY CASEY and TOOT TOOT ZOOM! and there's some ramblings I did when she asked me to write something about my work. They do a real nice job with the site and blog, so click on this and give it a look?

Mighty Casey: Beginnings

With MIGHTY CASEY officially coming out tomorrow, March 3, I thought it'd be fitting to show and tell a bit about how it got started.

Mid-2006, I got an email from my editor and friend Liz Szabla at the just-up-and-running Jean Feiwel spear-headed publisher Feiwel and Friends. They were building up the first couple of lists and had a quirky, funny, CASEY AT THE BAT-inspired baseball pic book story that needed an illustrator. Having just worked with Liz at Scholastic on RIGHTY AND LEFTY, I was fortunate enough to get an invite.

Liz sent me the manuscript, by one James Preller, and I definitely loved it. I definitely wanted in. But before they'd sign me up officially, I had to do a little somethin'-somethin' to prove I was the guy. So, I whipped up these character sketches for the title character of MIGHTY CASEY (sidenote: Back then, I was still working full-time as a letterpress press operator. I wanted to get this back to Liz quick, so I actually sketched these up while standing at a running press--and scanned and emailed on my lunch break!):



The kids playing baseball in this book are far from good. They are very not good at the playing of baseball. Therein lies the charm and the humor. My original take on Casey was for him to be a tubbier, stoutly type. One who swings TOO hard, runs TOO fast, and slides TOO deep and it undoes each play... A "mighty" MIGHTY CASEY. But...

Preller's vision was a very SCRAWNY Mighty Casey. "Mighty", of course, being a bit on the tongue-in-cheek side. Made perfect sense. But, Preller and Liz both liked the style of these sketches enough to give me the thumbs up and I got the job!

Later on, it came time to deliver sketches on the book. Before I got started, Liz sent me an email that Preller had sent to her. (Sidenote: back then, Preller and I did not actually speak. Not cause we didn't like each other--but it's actually MORE common for authors and illustrators to NOT correspond in these situations. Weird? I know.) Preller's email laid it all out. The general vibe of the book as he'd dreamed it would be. It was good inspiration and good insight in helping me to get started.

So, before I went any further, I wanted to have a character sketch approved of how Preller's Casey should ACTUALLY look. I believe, in that original Preller email, he outlined the kids as looking extra-lean with ill-fitted uniforms and helmets so bulgy that they ended up looking kinda like bobble-heads. So here's what I came up with:



Sometime later, sketches were approved, and final art was wrapped. Here's a crowning shot of dear Casey, taken directly from our finished book:



And we all lived happily ever after.

To see how the rest turned out (wink-wink!), why not pick up a copy of MIGHTY CASEY? (wink-wink!) (Support your local bookseller!)

Epilogue: Preller and I eventually did talk (or emailed, to be precise). Long after the final art was delivered and book was designed. Having held a special place in his heart, he asked Liz to ask me how much I'd charge for a piece of the art. Having held a special place in my heart, I told Liz to tell him "for that guy, it's no charge". Then he emailed me and I emailed him and we're good ol' pals ever since.

Coming Attractions

Soon, I'll have a couple of new books coming out--at long last! Seems like I finished these forever ago. That's how the world of print/book production works. But it wasn't so long ago really. It's been a full few months, these past.


First up, is MIGHTY CASEY. This is my pal James Preller's retelling of the old Thayer poem. But I'm here to tell you, the results ain't nearly so glum. It's good, funny fun. I even got to draw a kid peeing against a fence in the outfield (no lie). But in a classy way.



Second up, is TOOT TOOT ZOOM!. This is the great Phyllis Root's pic book about a lonely little fox who has no friends. He jumps in his car and shoots up the mountainside to find some. There are good results. And there are disastrous results. I got to draw the car plummeting off the edge of the mountain (no lie). But it's classy.

I hope you'll save some room in your memory banks for when these come out. MIGHTY CASEY is set to "drop" March 3 from Feiwel and Friends. And you can find/buy/pre-order at amazon.com right here. Though, if I may be so bold, I strongly recommend/ask you buy/order through your local, independent bookstore!

TOOT TOOT ZOOM! is out April 28 from Candlewick Press. Amazon here. Local, independent bookshop, please!

More on these in the coming weeks...

From Sketch to Final in 4 Posts

Above is final art, based on the sketch posted earlier this week. This will be featured on the title page of the upcoming picture book MIGHTY CASEY by James Preller from Feiwel and Friends. Spring '08. Save the date.

Just finished another Julie recommended YA novel, THE BOOK THIEF. So, so good. I'm not the first to say so, cause it was a Printz Honor book. But whatever. Marcus Zusak spun a heck of a yarn and in such a tremendously unique way. When I read it was a Nazi Germany tale, I wasn't aching to read it. I don't usually love putting myself in expectedly upsetting places. And believe me, it upsets. But it was well worth it. Bravo, Zusak. Bravo, man.

What's the Deadline?

Working towards a Wednesday morning deadline for a bit of final, final art for a picture book with Feiwel and Friends. Completed the most of the book a month or so ago, and now just tying up the jacket and title page drawings. Sketch above is evidence I'm working. Tobin keeps jumping in my lap. Hungry, and it's only noon. T's 4:15 dinner time's a long time out. Sheesh.

Sketches and Kvetches

Sketches from my current sketchbook. From both live and imagined projects. I love a good sketch. I love how rough and immediate and spontaneous it looks. It just can't be duplicated. I sometimes hate to redraw a sketch for a final drawing cause I fear I'll be disappointed in the final cause I like the sketch so much better (it's happened).

I've been nursing a sore throat/cold type of thing all week. I'm much better now, and for the most part, it wasn't at all severe. I was taking this herbal remedy type of thing called goldenseal (Julie was also taking to fight off any possibilities) that's intensely bitter and is supposed to amp up your immune system. I think it might have worked. Anyway, the worst of the thing is these butt-bustin sinus headaches it brought with it. I woke up at 3:30 this morning with headache, took more pain killers and couldn't get fully back to sleep the rest of the night. Woke up this morning (still with headache) and stepped out into the cold and shoveled some snow off the driveway. The exercise in cold pretty much froze off the headache. Natural remedies, my man. Way of the future.

Sneak Preview

Here's an advance look at one of the drawings I just finished for a new book with Feiwel and Friends. If all goes as planned, I think the book's supposed to be out sometime in '08. This is one of my faves from the group.