Dusty Higgins
Editorial
Dusty Higgins is an award-winning cartoonist and illustrator who began his career working in newspapers as an editorial cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic designer. He’s worked in branding and marketing, as a professor of digital media, and as an animator/director (Star Forest). He fell in love with storytelling at an early age, drawing comics in elementary school, later writing and drawing three different comic strips four days a week for his college newspaper.
Higgins’ debut graphic novel, Pinocchio Vampire Slayer, was a 2010 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens from the Young Adult Library Association. Higgins has a Masters of Fine Arts in Animation from Savannah College of Art and Design, although that’s not nearly as impressive as his homemade pizza, cultivated from years of practice. When he’s not creating or cooking, he enjoys spending time with his wife, two children, two dogs, and a Venus fly trap named Vinny.
What do you love to do for fun?
I grew up waterskiing on the lake with my dad, who did so with his dad, and I happily take my children to the lake to sling them across the water as I continue that tradition.
What cool travel spots would you most highly recommend?
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Hong Kong is a treasure I’m happy to have been able to visit. The stairway up the mountain to it is lined with a hundreds of uniquely posed golden Buddha statues, and it was an inspiring place to visit.
Available for School Visits:
I enjoy talking with kids and giving them a behind the curtain reveal of what professional artists do, talking about ideation and explaining how artists start with sketches to create a blueprint, and what that work goes through next. Basically explaining to them why that how to draw books starts with circles and squares to make a bear, and how even people like me still do that. I like to bring in examples of work that I’ve done to show how things get made and what they look like in early examples versus and then show them what the final product that they see actually looks like. I’ve done this both with graphic novels as well as animation. I like to end the presentations with a group exercise, usually letting the students help me ideate a character or a short four panel comic, depending on how much time we have.
Visit Dusty at:
Website: https://dustyhiggins.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dusty_higgins
Bluesky: @dustyhiggins.bsky.social
Creative Process:
I once had an older, and wiser, colleague who taught painting describe to me how they would teach students the process of painting using a projected image over time. They began by projecting the image completely out of focus, so that the students would only see blurry shapes. The initial paintings would be abstract forms. But every so often, this professor would tweak the focus, slowly bringing the image into a sharp perspective. Each time, the abstract forms would be rendered to a finer degree, before the students finished their painting. My approach to each project I work on is much the same. I work in digital media, traditional mediums, in motion and static, and even in writing. The method works for all of those mediums, and can even inform a different approach to the medium. Begin simple and broad, then I analyze, refine, and repeat until it’s done.
Awards and honors:
2010 Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, Young Adult Library Services Association
2015 Junior Library Guild Selection, Junior Library Guild
2017 Junior Library Guild Selection, Junior Library Guild
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Lettering, Middle Grade, Mystery, Non-fiction, Penciling, Picture books, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Typography, Writing, Young Adult
Who or what inspires you the most?
Nature. One of my go-to things to do when I’m feeling uninspired is to grab some gouache and my art travel bag, and find a nice spot for some plein air painting.
Published books:
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer (SLG Publishing, 2009)
Pinocchio Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater (SLG Publishing, 2010)
Knights of the Living Dead (SLG Publishing 2011)
Turok, Son of Stone Volume 1: Aztlan (Dark Horse 2011)
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Volume 3: Of Wood and Blood part 1 (SLG Publishing, 2012)
Pinocchio Vampire Slayer of Wood and Blood part 2 (SLG Publishing, 2012)
Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer: Complete Edition (Top Shelf Publishing, 2014)
Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Attack of the Alien Horde (Simon and Schuster, 2015)
Valkyrie Beer Delivery (Stela Publishing, 2017)
Miles Taylor and the Golden Cape: Rise of the Robot Army (Simon & Schuster, 2017)
Forthcoming books:
Location:
Bryant, AR
Mediums:
digital, ink, watercolor, gouache
Published Books
Royden Lepp
Editorial
Royden Lepp is a Canadian/American author and illustrator best known for his acclaimed graphic novel series Rust, which was optioned by 20th Century Fox. He is also the creator of the middle grade series Jurassic Jeff from Random House Graphic. With a professional background spanning video-game art direction, picture books, storyboarding, and concept art, Lepp’s work combines cinematic storytelling with a warm, character-driven visual style that has earned him Junior Librarian Guild Selections, Canadian Council of the Art grants, and a dedicated readership across age groups.
Royden lives in the Pacific Northwest of the US, where he continues to create new stories across books and visual media. Outside of his illustration and writing work, he enjoys photography and drone videography.
What was your favorite book as a child?
All of the Dr Seuss books were so wild and delightful when I was young. There were a few X-Men and Spiderman series that had a pretty big impact on my taste in sequential stories.
Who or what inspires you the most?
Music moves me the most. I create playlists for my projects that get me into the mindset, draw out the emotions I need to connect with the characters and ensure I strike the right tone. Sometimes it’s just one song that defines a whole book for me.
Mediums:
My primary medium is Digital.
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Animals, Board books, Book Covers, Character design, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Manga, Middle Grade, Mystery, Non-fiction, Penciling, Picture books, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Writing, Young Adult
Location:
Bothell, WA
Creative Process:
I have a lot of different approaches depending on the type of project, whether it’s writing or illustrating, but I always like to have something visual to go with my work. I like to work very loose and rough before finalizing. I like to create a clear and defined vision for a project so anyone involved can see where it’s going. I like creating something new and fresh but all of my work is inspired by my experiences in life. I work digitally almost exclusively for the sake of speed and efficiency.
Awards and honors:
Junior Librarians Guild Selections for each Jurassic Jeff Volume
Available for School Visits:
If Royden is scheduled to visit your school, you can expect him to address any grade from K-6 for 35-45 minutes talking about visual literacy, art as a career, visual storytelling, and the power of drawing. He will do live drawing on a tablet connected to a screen and engage in an interactive lesson on the key elements of storytelling. Facility and audio/visual requirements are a large TV or projector with an hdmi or usb-c port, and a microphone depending on audience size. Audience cap of 20 kids with one other adult present for crowd control, larger assemblies permitted with larger support. High school level portfolio reviews are also an option.
Published books:
David, Volume 1: Shepherd’s Song (Alias, 2006)
Barnabas Goes Swimming (Harper Collins, 2008)
Barnabas Helps a Friend (Harper Collins, 2008)
God Loves You, Barnabas (Harper Collins, 2008)
Happy Birthday, Barnabas (Harper Collins, 2008)
How to Draw Big Bad Bible Guys (Harper Collins, 2009)
How to Draw Big Bad Bible Beasts (Harper Collins, 2009)
Rust Vol. 1: Visitor in the Field (BOOM! Studios / Archaia, 2011)
Rust Vol. 2: Secrets of the Cell (BOOM! Studios / Archaia, 2012)
Rust Vol. 3: Death of the Rocket Boy (BOOM! Studios / Archaia, 2014)
Rust: The Boy Soldier (prequel) (Archaia, 2016)
Rust Vol. 4: Soul in the Machine (BOOM! Studios / Archaia, 2018)
Jurassic Jeff: Space Invader (Jurassic Jeff Book 1) (Random House Graphic, 2023)
Jurassic Jeff: Race to Warp Speed (Jurassic Jeff Book 2) (Random House Graphic, 2024)
Forthcoming books:
Jurassic Jeff: Phone Home (Jurassic Jeff Book 3) (Random House Graphic, 2026)
The Cedars (Random House Graphic, Fall 2027)
Visit Royden at:
Published Books
Sarah Cathcart Anderson
Editorial
Sarah Cathcart Anderson is an artist, writer and creative director living in the Pacific Northwest. She has spent many years collaborating with big and small brands, ad agencies and non-profits. Sarah is a graduate of Stanford University, with a theater major, and an alum and former instructor in the Art Center College of Design’s Advertising program. As an illustrator she works both digitally and in ink, pencil and watercolor, creating work that explores the magic and absurdity of the everyday world. When she’s not telling stories and making art, Sarah spends her time detangling her son’s wildly long hair, hanging with her dogs, and eating amazing food cooked by her husband, Food Network personality and Today Show regular Mark Anderson of The Grill Dads. Her family is thrilled she does so little cooking herself.
What was your favorite book as a child?
I loved so many! One of them was definitely Alexander and the Magic Mouse. The illustrations and characters were so vivid for me, and I loved the idea of being trapped in a rambling house reading sea stories and drinking tea with talking animals while a storm raged outside for 30 days and 30 nights. I still do.
Who or what inspires you the most?
My kiddo. He’s brilliant and wild and completely unique. He inspires me every day.
Mediums:
watercolor, ink, pencil, digital
Specialties:
Creative Process:
For me, everything starts with some kind of narrative spark: sometimes it begins with an image, sometimes with words, sometimes with an emotion or experience I’m trying to articulate. Then I grab whatever is nearest—scraps of paper, my notes app, an actual sketchbook (if I’m lucky)—and start scribbling. If I’m starting with words, my next step is to get to my computer and expand on the thought, trying to find the form in the narrative. If I’m starting with a visual, I draw some rough sketches on paper or on my tablet and get to know the new idea a bit. Either way, my next move is to really nail down the manuscript and then draw a loose storyboard so I can see how the story moves and breathes. Then I’ll play around with character design and choose a key moment to explore visually in more depth. I try obvious stuff, weird stuff, go down tangents, and then get to work drawing a more refined version on paper. I usually rough in with a light pencil, then come back with watercolor, then colored pencil, and then scan it into my tablet and noodle around with it in Procreate. At that point I’ll probably bounce back and forth between paper and tablet. Whether I’m writing or illustrating, a really important part of my creative process is to stop at different points and step away—when I come back with fresh eyes, I always find I bring something new to the work.
Location:
Boise, ID
Published books:
Forthcoming books:
Awards and honors:
Available for School Visits:
Visit Sarah at:
Rajiv Eipe
Editorial
Rajiv Eipe makes picture books, comics, and short animation films. He collaborates frequently with the writer C. G. Salamander, and some of the series they’ve worked on together are the Maithili and the Minotaur graphic novels, the Lost Creatures Picture Books, and the Nisha Small middle grade novels. In 2020, he was awarded the Parag Big Little Book Award for illustration for his contribution to children’s literature in India. He lives in Bangalore, India, with his family consisting of two cats, one dog, and one (other) human. He likes to doodle in his sketchbook, drink more coffee than he should, maintain an untidy workspace, and gaze into vacant space at regular intervals.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Mr. Clumsy by Roger Hargreaves. And a bunch of comics—Funny World, Detective Moochwala, and Gardhab Das, in a children’s magazine called Target, published in India in the 80s and 90s. I wasn’t a very good reader as a child, and images were a way into books for me. Looking back, it’s pretty incredible that a green blob with a yellow circle for a nose and a few strands of hair sprouting out of the top of his head and from under his nose can so vividly represent a character that you feel for and laugh along with.
What do you love to do for fun?
I love the outdoors and live in a city with a temperate climate and lots of great short hikes. I’m also an amateur birder, and will find time a couple of days a week to grab a pair of binocs and walk around a park or city forest near home (while silently muttering curses at people who wear bright colours and talk loudly inside a forest).
Awards and honors:
The Big Little Book Award for Illustration 2020 by the Parag Initiative of Tata Trusts for contribution to Children’s Literature in India
Binod Kanoria Early Readers Award 2024 for Hello Sun
Mehlli Gobhai Award for Illustration 2022 for Chitty: A Dog and her Forest Farm
Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Picture Book Illustration Award 2022 for Dugga
Binod Kanoria Illustration Award 2022 for Dugga
The Hindu Young World Good Books Award for Illustration 2019 for Ammachi’s Amazing Machines
Creative Process:
Making rough drawings in sketchbooks or on loose sheets of paper is a way of thinking for me—my small brain can hold only so much. So every project or idea generally starts like this, with sketchy pencil drawings, whether I’m collaborating with a writer and responding to a manuscript, or working alone. I love the character design process and spend lots of time doodling many variations of a design till I find what feels like a good fit. I find it somewhat difficult and constricting to draw directly on a computer, so it’s usually pencil on (cheap) paper, but i often add colours digitally, especially on projects with short timelines. I’ve noticed that as images move towards completion, they lose some of the energy of initial sketches, so i’ve been making an effort to retain some of the freeness and looseness of rough drawings. I’m generally ‘drawn’ to silliness in stories and characters, and try and find inspiration for drawings from the sights and sounds of my immediate surroundings.
Location:
Bangalore, India
Mediums:
Pencil, Inks, crayons, colour pencils, mixed media, digital
Specialties:
Published books:
Dugga (Pratham Books, 2021)
Maithili and the Minotaur: Web of Woe (Puffin India, 2021)
Nisha Small: The Knot of Gold (Duckbill PRH 2022)
Maithili and the Minotaur: Forest of Forgotten Fears (Puffin India, 2022)
Hello Sun (Pratham Books, 2022)
How to Reach Mars and Other (Im)Possible Things (Puffin India, 2023)
When Fairyland Lost Its Magic (Harper Collins Children India, 2023)
Ajay of Agumbe and the Signal Snake (Pratham Books, 2024)
Nisha Small: The Strand of Silver (Duckbill PRH 2024)
Maithili and the Minotaur: Dolls of Despair (Puffin India, 2024)
The Pangolin Protectors (Pratham Books, 2025)
Song of the Asunam (Harper Collins Children India, 2025)
Forthcoming books:
Prabir’s New Flute (Duckbill PRH 2025)
Maithili and the Minotaur: Isle of Insanity (Puffin India, 2026)
Aalais like the Hills (Harper Collins Children India, 2026)
Available for School Visits:
No
Visit Rajiv at:
Published Books
Andy Hirsch
Editorial
Andy Hirsch has worked on everything from licensed books to graphic novels and nonfiction. He is the author and illustrator of many entries across First Second’s hit Science Comics and History Comics series, each of which has been named a Junior Library Guild Selection. His work has been featured on year’s best lists from the American Library Association and the School Library Journal and has been licensed for translation into nine languages and counting. His most recent book, Good Boy, follows a mismatched boy and his dog as they overcome obstacles from bar jumps to anxiety dreams in the exciting world of canine sports.
What do you love to do for fun?
I’ve become a late-blooming fan of recreational sports, specifically volleyball. It’s structured fun, scheduled months in advance — find your local league today!
What was your favorite book as a child?
Hank the Cowdog was my guy. Clearly I’ve adored dogs and detested injustice from day one. To hear my parents tell it, I only accepted our move to Texas when I found out the bookstores here stocked Hank.
Awards and honors:
American Library Association Best Graphic Novels for Teens 2013 – The Royal Historian of Oz
School Library Journal Best Graphic Novels 2017 – Dogs: From Predator to Protector
American Library Association Best Graphic Novels for Children 2021 – The American Bison: The Buffalo’s Survival Tale
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard – Dogs: From Predator to Protector, Trees: Kings of the Forest, Cats: Nature and Nurture, Rocks and Minerals: Geology from Caverns to the Cosmos, The American Bison: The Buffalo’s Survival Tale, The Transcontinental Railroad: Crossing the Divide, Electricity: Energy in Action, Human Spaceflight: Rockets and Rivalry
Creative Process:
My initial layouts are jotted down on index cards. This lets me see whole scenes laid out at once and frees me to iterate on pages in no time flat. From there I work entirely digitally, moving to Clip Studio Paint for a rough art draft. I letter early in the process because I believe balloons and captions are as important as anything to panel composition and page flow. Since I write my own books, I can even take the opportunity to tweak my script as I go. I do a second pencil draft as needed before inking, and then I export my pages to Photoshop for coloring.
Location:
Farmers Branch, TX
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Animals, Black & white, Book Covers, Character design, Coloring, Editorial, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Lettering, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Penciling, Spot art, Storyboarding, Writing, Young Adult
Mediums:
Digital
Published books:
The Royal Historian of Oz (SLG Comics, 2011, artist)
Garfield vol. 2-9 (BOOM! Studios, 2012-2015, artist)
The Baker Street Peculiars (BOOM! Studios, 2016, artist)
Varmints (First Second, 2016)
Dogs: From Predator to Protector (First Second, 2017)
Trees: Kings of the Forest (First Second, 2018)
Cats: Nature and Nurture (First Second, 2019)
Rocks and Minerals: Geology from Caverns to the Cosmos (First Second, 2020)
The American Bison: The Buffalo’s Survival Tale (First Second, 2021)
The Transcontinental Railroad: Crossing the Divide (First Second, 2022)
Electricity: Energy in Action (First Second, 2023)
Human Spaceflight: Rockets and Rivalry (First Second, 2024)
Forthcoming books:
Good Boy (First Second, 2025)
The Senses (First Second, 2026)
Visit Andy at:
Published Books
Nico and Candy Robertson
Editorial
Hi, we’re Nico and Candy Robertson, a husband-and-wife creative duo who have been making things together since 2000, when we first met in high school art class. We are graphic, toy, and garden designers originally from New Zealand and Hong Kong, but now living on a thickly forested hill near Ballarat, Australia.
Our toy designs have been stocked everywhere from one-star-rated eBay sellers to fancy museums like MoMA, NYC. Over the years, we’ve had work featured alongside some pretty famous brands, but we’re most proud of being on wedding and birthday cakes. Oh, and read as someone’s favourite book. That is just incredible!
We are the creators of Noferin, Pecanpals, Jibibuts, Roobee Roo, and Archie & Reddie.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Neither of us grew up in houses filled with books. And whilst Nico at least has fond memories of teachers reading stories at school, young Candy had nothing more than study-aids. Poor little Candy. In fact, it wasn’t until years later, when Nico read Roald Dahl’s BFG aloud, that Candy realised how spellbinding books could be. So it’s only been in our adult lives that we’ve truly discovered the magical world of children’s books.
Nico’s favourite books are: Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A.Milne and E.H.Shepherd, Le Petit Nicolas by René Goscinnny and Jean Jacques Sempé, Maison Ikkoku by Rumiko Takahashi, and Yotsuba by Kiyohiko Azuma.
Candy’s favourite books are: Moomin by Tove Jansson, Richard Scarry’s books, Miffy by Dick Bruna, and Dr Slump by Akira Toriyama.
What is your favorite food?
Certain brands of Australian milk. When we travel, that’s the only thing we truly miss. It’s sweet and creamy and just oh so good!
(We’re big fans of all food, but if we had to choose one cuisine, it would be Japanese.)
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
The legacy of work left by Tove Jansson (Moomin). It’s a body of work that is both foreign yet familiar, strange yet soothing, quiet yet loud. It speaks to an inner voice that one didn’t know existed, and it lingers long after viewing. Story and characters aside, Tove’s work is populated by a strong design sense that has enabled her family to continue developing her world long after her passing; a rare gift that enables her characters to find new audiences and rekindle long-forgotten relationships with old readers. We just love that.
Awards and honors:
ARCHIE & REDDIE – I REALLY DIG PIZZA! 2022 Junior Library Guild selection
What do you love to do for fun?
Make things together. We love gardening, hiking, getting lost in forests, painting, cooking, designing, anything really. We just love making things and enjoy the process of seeing something evolve from nothing. The concept of “retirement” is completely foreign to us. How can you ever stop making things?!
Creative Process:
We work very closely together on all of our projects. Sometimes things start as an image or a visual feeling, like a certain expression, colour, or an experience that needs capturing. Other times it’s a certain joke, hook, or character flaw that we’d like to explore more.
To start, Nico distracts Candy with an important task, then he sits by himself in a dark corner somewhere and writes as many treatments of an idea as he can. If he’s on a roll, he’ll sketch some ideas to go with the notes. Once Candy has rejected all the nonsensical ideas, we get to work fleshing out the ones that do work. We write and draw together, scribbling a tree’s-worth of paper and HB pencils, until critical-mass is reached and we split into our main strengths: Nico on words, Candy on art.
After that, we become gardeners, watching unexpected things grow from unexpected places. Candy always sketches everything out with pencil on paper first. They’re pretty tiny at this stage, but all the details are there. Sometimes Candy will interpret something in a completely unexpected (but better) way. So we rewrite. Then we rewrite again. We redraw. Then redraw again. Once we’re happy with the overall flow, Candy digitally inks the sketches, sets up the colour palette, and then lets Nico fill in the blanks.
Eventually we end up with something worth sharing. So we send it to someone we trust, get their feedback, and the whole process starts all over again.
Location:
Visit Nico and Candy at:
What cool travel spots would you most highly recommend?
Kiso Valley in Japan. Beautiful views, historic villages, incredible walks, wonderful food, amazing details to notice (like little mosses and fungi growing on path markers), friendly locals trying to sell you moldy sweet potato, and abundant onsen. It really is the most magical place.
Forthcoming books:
Published books:
ARCHIE & REDDIE series of 4 books (Razorbill/PRH USA and HarperCollins ANZ, 2021)
ROOBEE ROO series of 21 books (Hachette ANZ, First 5 books published in 2023)
Mediums:
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Editorial, Game Design, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Manga, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Writing
Available for School Visits:
We love working with people, particularly young children. Whilst our current IRL visits are confined to Australia, we more than make up for this through our creative and enthusiastic virtual presentations. We enjoy turning our readings into theatrical plays, making full-use of music, animation, and hands-on props and sets. We get a kick out of designing special activities for audiences to participate in and are always keen to connect with readers in new ways.
Published Books
Olivia Li
Editorial
Olivia Li is a cartoonist, multidisciplinary artist, and organizer based in Queens, NY. She’s particularly interested in telling coming-of-age and self-discovery stories of queer, POC protagonists, and portrayals of lived experiences of mental illness. Her comics dive into this focus through magic, myth, and the lives of urban ambiverts. She has edited two indie comics anthologies and has recently started dipping her toe into small press publishing under the banner of Lenticule Press.
What was your favorite book as a child?
As a small child I had a collection of Leo Lionni picture books that I read over and over. I love his soft yet bright imagery, his use of different collage and painting techniques for texture, and the fact that all those melancholy stories probably gave me depression haha. As a medium-sized child, it was all Tamora Pierce and other fantasy adventure stories, plus any kind of myth or fairy tale retelling I could find.
What is your favorite food?
It’s a tie between xiao long bao and really good grapes
What do you love to do for fun?
Getting through my daunting piles of books I’ve bought but haven’t read yet, textile crafts (mostly embroidery and cross-stitch), mahjong, cooking and baking, running around New York with pals, pet every cat, accidentally getting caught up in random design projects (right now I am casually trying to design the perfect work backpack for the art/design freelancer who travels a lot and carries a million supplies).
What cool travel spots would you most highly recommend?
The parts of travel I remember most vividly are the ones that spark my visual imagination, landscapes and structures so different from what I’m used to that my mind starts making up stories that could only be set here. My top three so far: 1) the cable car up to Tian Tan Buddha in Hong Kong, 2) the Road to Hana on Maui, and 3) the tiny little side streets in Venice. Also: I love hanging out in graveyards, because I am a spooky ghost.
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
The stories I always go back to are the ones you find in mythology, fairy tales, folklore. There’s something I really love about the fact that cultures all around the world kept making up the same stories to tell each other. The root of storytelling is human connection, how cool is that! That’s what I’m trying to do, make stories that come from my experiences and see who they connect with.
Art Process:
My illustrations and comics nearly always start life as messy little pencil drawings that are barely legible to other people, so I can figure out compositions without getting too precious. After what I call the “sloppy thumbnails” stage, I move onto digital (in my primary workflow, at least, since it’s better than traditional for my hand and wrist, and offers more flexibility). Here’s where I draw cleaner thumbnails and layouts (and sometimes color-blocking), then pencils and lettering, then inks and colors. For client work, I will show each stage for review and adjustments before moving to the next; I submit several options at the “clean thumbnails” stage if a composition/design needs to be made by the client.
I currently use Clip Studio Paint on my iPad as my primary drawing software, and sometimes Adobe Fresco. I’m proficient in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, and After Effects.
Available for School Visits:
It’s been a few years, but I’ve taught single- and multiple-week comics workshops for age ranges 6-8 and 8-14, and am open to doing more! These consisted of comic formats and basic story structure, leading up to each participant making their own stapled mini-comic.
Mediums:
Mostly digital these days, sometimes ink on paper
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Black & white, Book Covers, Character design, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Middle Grade, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Writing, Young Adult
Forthcoming books:
West Middle Mirror (Andrews McMeel, Fall 2026)
Published books:
Location:
Queens, NY
Visit Olivia at:
Awards and honors:
MICE Mini-Grant recipient (2019) for Good Morning, Gorgon!
Tak Toyoshima
Editorial
Tak Toyoshima is the creator/illustrator of Secret Asian Man, a comic strip exploring race relations. It became the first nationally syndicated comic (United Features) with an Asian American lead. He is the art director for MICE (Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo) and teaches comics to middle schoolers on the weekends.
Tak has also won awards for cover design, layout, photo illustration, and info-graphics during his 10+ years as a creative director for Boston’s alternative newspaper The Weekly Dig. He advocated for the use of illustration for covers, working with hundreds of local renowned and up-and-coming artists such as Shepard Fairey, James Jean, and Peter Max, to name a few.
What was your favorite book as a child?
Dr. Slump (series) by Akira Toriyama. As a child I read a lot of comics, both American and Japanese manga. Dr. Slump stands out in my mind for so many reasons. It is hilarious, thoughtful, borderline inappropriate (without being raunchy), features extremely well-designed and interesting characters, but mostly I fell in love with the art style that seemed to flow effortlessly from childish simplicity to technically stunning detail.
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
I love working with kids. Not necessarily teaching AT them, but learning WITH them.
On Saturdays I teach a comics class for middle school kids to help develop their skills in writing as well as drawing. Their stories always remind me of what is at the core of my love for comics: the challenge of transferring stories in my head to blank pages. It’s important for kids to learn how to communicate and to expose them to comics as a playground where they can develop these skills in an open and non-judgmental way.
Mediums:
pencils, pen and ink, digital, coffee
Specialties:
Action-adventure, Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Book Covers, Branding, Character design, Coloring, Concept art, Editorial, Fantasy, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Indie comics, Inking, Lettering, Manga, Middle Grade, Mystery, Non-fiction, Packaging, Penciling, Picture books, Sci-fi, Slice-of-life, Spot art, Storyboarding, Typography, Writing, Young Adult
Art Process:
For pure illustration work-for-hire, it’s all about the client. To me the challenge is in finding my voice in the assignment. Usually the end goal is relatively simple. “We need a beer label with these elements. Use green and red.” “We need a spot illustration about the slippery slope of A.I. art. But make it funny.” Countless illustrators and designers can accomplish these goals but what is it that only I can offer? That’s what keeps me up at night.
Now, not all projects are created equal and I am certainly guilty of being less invested in some than others (gotta pay that mortgage!). But at the end of the day if I am putting my name to something I want it to stand alongside the best work. And when it comes to longer-form work like comics series and graphic novels, there are no excuses.
Available for School Visits:
I am currently represented by the American Program Bureau for speaking engagements and have been traveling to present about my comics work since about 2015. Most of my presentations have been at universities (Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Georgetown, Baylor, UNLV, etc.) speaking on my journey in comics talking about Asian representation, the challenges of advocating for a minority voice, and the complexities of race relations in America.
I have presented to younger students as well, from grade school through high school, where I mostly speak of the experience of working in comics and the effort that comes with the “fun” of drawing pictures for a living. Many of these talks include hands-on workshops where kids join in and create comics.
I have also presented at professional conferences for teachers, discussing how comics can be used in school curriculum and how the art form is a powerful tool for students to use for self-expression and critical thinking.
Forthcoming books:
Published books:
The Daily Days (collection of 3 years of nationally syndicated daily comic strips distributed by United Features, 2nd printing 2023)
Make Good Choices (print and online choose-your-own-adventure style book revolving around controversial social justice topics such as abortion, police brutality, critical race theory, gun control, 2023)
Kwok (anti-Asian hate crime fundraiser for local elderly care organization in Boston’s Chinatown, 2021)
RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now (Mariner Books, 2022)
Enough About Me written by Richard Lui (Zondervan Books, 2021)
New Frontiers: the Many Worlds of George Takei (SI Universe Media, 2017)
Gwan Anthology (Forward Comix, 2016)
Artists Against Police Brutality (Rosarium Publishing, 2015)
Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction (Stone Bridge Press, 2012)
Out of Sequence: Underrepresented Voices in American Comics (U. of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2008)
Secret Identities: the Asian American Superhero Anthology (The New Press, 2009)
East Main Street (New York University Press, 2005)
Attitude 2: the New Subversive Alternative Cartoonists (NBM, 2004)
Location:
Hanover, MA
Awards and honors:
Visit Tak at:
Published Books
Brian Schatell
Editorial
I draw silly animals for a living. I am the illustrator of 16 books for children, mostly picture books, some of which I have also written. I taught children’s book illustration and writing for twelve years at Parsons School of Design, and for sixteen years served as chair or co-chair of the Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature’s annual One-on-One Conference for aspiring authors and illustrators. I’ve also done extensive illustration work for the children’s educational market and for the children’s apparel industry. Aside from my career creating art for children, I have a long list of diverse and eclectic interests/hobbies for which I have great passion but not enough hours!
What do you love to do for fun?
Visit used bookstores and used record stores.
What is your favorite children's book?
Frog and Toad Are Friends, by Arnold Lobel. The greatest book ever written in the English language and everything that I aspire to as an author/illustrator of children’s books!
Mediums:
Specialties:
Advertising, Animals, Black & white, Board books, Character design, Editorial, Graphic novel interior art, Humor, Illustration, Picture books, Writing
Art Process:
For many, many years I’ve kept a small notebook in my back pocket. When inspiration strikes I’ll quickly sketch or jot down an idea, a character, a line of dialogue, a turn-of phrase. These stray bits and pieces accumulate over time until they gradually coalesce into a book concept with a beginning, a middle, and an end. It’s an organic process. I currently have folders full of these scrips and scraps at various stages of gestation.
All of my illustrations contain some kind of black line art, and all of them begin with me sketching by hand with pencil on tracing paper. Lots and lots of tracing paper! Then depending on how I want the finished product to appear, there are three ways I might proceed. I will either scan the pencil sketch into the computer and use it as a template to draw the final line art digitally, or more commonly, I will develop the sketch into an black ink drawing on paper and then scan the completed black line into the computer to color digitally. Or option three, where I don’t scan anything at all and just watercolor the line art. Whatever the method, I expend a great amount of effort to make sure that the final art retains the spontaneity of my original pencil sketches.
Though I specialize in drawing funny animals in funny situations, (I’m partial to cows and chickens) I’m nevertheless interested in stories that are character driven and that have emotional resonance – not a contradiction, actually. The most important attributes of children’s book illustration in my mind are character and emotion, balance and clarity, flow and pacing. My rule is that every little thing put on the page should be there for a reason.
Forthcoming books:
The Bumble Brothers: Frabbit: Birth of a Superhero! (Reycraft, 2025)
Published books:
Selected Titles:
Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam (Lippincott, 1982)
Two Crazy Pigs (Scholastic/Cartwheel, 1992)
Pup and Pop (Scholastic/Cartwheel, 2003)
Owl Boy (Holiday House, 2016)
The Bumble Brothers: Crazy for Comics (Reycraft, 2022)
The Bumble Brothers: The Not-So-Secret Clubhouse! (Reycraft, 2023)
Location:
Available for School Visits:
I love to do school visits. I have a two-part presentation, geared towards younger grades. Part one covers authors, illustrators and the book making process, from initial idea through writing, sketching, final art and printing, with visual examples. In part two, the students are the authors and I am the illustrator, as I draw an impromptu story from audience suggestions.
Published Books
Ariel Rutland
Editorial
Ariel Rutland is an award-winning designer and illustrator whose work focuses on themes of nature, curiosity, humor, and beauty in everyday objects. She grew up in a cozy central New Jersey suburb down the street from a great big house with a pond. Many weekends of her childhood were spent strolling the neighborhood with her Grandma, who would often take the train from Manhattan down to “the country.” She credits their endless neighborhood walks spent storytelling about the squirrels, birds, and rocks that crossed their path as inspiration for her art… and ability to (bring to her art?) view nature and the world through the wondrous eyes of a child…
Ariel graduated from University of Maryland with a degree in fine art and concentration in graphic design. She worked as a product designer at Martha Stewart, followed by lead designer at a boutique branding agency. Her artwork has been licensed to American Greetings, Minted, Target, and West Elm, being featured on greeting cards and home decor. She is currently illustrating a forthcoming children’s book. When she isn’t drawing and designing, she can be found playing in the backyard with her three young boys and husband in Yardley, Pennsylvania.
What was your favorite book as a child?
My bedtime book request was always Stellaluna. The illustrations completely transported me into the night sky. I now read it to my boys, who are equally as captivated and curious about these tender characters as I was.
Who or what inspires you the most, and why?
Watching my kids grow.
Mediums:
Specialties:
Art Process:
I start by asking questions and diving into the subject matter to find answers and (hopefully) discover hidden gems that I can weave into the illustrations. I want to fully immerse myself in the world that I am about to draw. Then I do a lot of loose pencil sketches on paper, continuing to iterate until I find what’s working. Next begins my back-and-forth dance from digital to analogue and back. After I’ve sketched on paper, I create a digital version so I can easily manipulate the pieces—move the tree a little to the left, add some birds, change the season. After I’ve created this digital foundation of flat shapes, I move back to paper and use various media like watercolor, ink, and cut paper—sometimes scribbles from my kids— to create textures and other hand-made marks that I will eventually scan and layer into the digital file. I love using the Procreate app on my iPad and Photoshop for final refinements. Whether I’m working purely digital or a combination, it’s important I retain a hand-made, “perfectly imperfect,” emotive quality to the final art.
Location:
Visit Ariel at:
Awards and honors:
Available for School Visits:
Not at this time.
Published books:
Do Bees Pee? written by Linda Booth Sweeney (Harper Collins, 2026)
Apart, Together written by Linda Booth Sweeney (Harper Collins, 2022)
Published Books
