It's the first week of February - where all New Years Resolutions go to die. I can see all of the dead and gone resolutions now, passing before us like the faces of dead Hunger Games tributes. There goes Going To The Gym. Ah, Meal Prepping; I was feeling so good about that one until about January 8th. And who could forget No Sweets Except on Weekends? That one really had potential. For a picture book writer and illustrator like myself, a dozen or so new ideas come to me in th

Welcome back, wayfarers! I don't know where you've been this year, but as you can see by the timestamps of this blog post and the last, I've been out and about, traveling, working, sharing life, creating, and yes, reading! This was a year in which I had to sort out a lot of things with my creative life, work life, my convictions, why I even started blogging in the first place - and though it would be silly of me to say I've Got it All Figured Out, I've certainly found some he

Have you noticed that the expression "it's a dog-eat-dog world" doesn't feel like it fits any more? When I think of a "dog-eat-dog" world, I imagine cut-throat competitive debonair businessmen and women clawing their way up the ladder in the daylight and stabbing their coworkers in the back by night. A touch dark maybe, but when one's only fixation was to provide for one's family by any means necessary, it makes a little more sense. Our current cultural situation feels a litt

Some of you have been reading my writing advice for months and all the while have been thinking, 'James, you're a picture book writer and...

"No, no, anything but organization!" Going through my hard drive can often give me a touch of heart break. Half-used, discarded project...

Please be gentle, Lenny. #artadvice #arttips #burnout #artblock #illustration Avoiding the Way of Lenny What's the quickest way to ruin...

#freelanceartist #picturebookillustration #digitalartist #freelanceadvice #creativetips Freelancing is a modern jungle of uncertainties....

Which should you use for your project? This question has been a decade-long struggle for me. I grew up in a time where digital art was...

My passion project died, and last weekend I buried it. We all have a project like this one - one that we've been thinking, writing,...

#picturebookillustration #childrensliterature #artinspiration #makingart #kidlitartist What Inspires my Picture Book Illustrations?...

#picturebookillustration #kidlit #childrensliterature #childrensillustration #cutepicturebook A fateful trip to the library first sent me...