MY OWN LITTLE WORLD

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, 1957.. Smug about my model car collection.  I still love 1950s cars and feature several in The Little Skyscraper.

Suburban Louisville, Kentucky, circa 1961..  I took accordion lessons for about six years.  Much later, I switched to piano, though I still have this accordion!

I was a feature writer and cartoonist on the school paper and edited a literary magazine in 1971, the year I graduated from Louisville's Doss High School.  I couldn't decide if I would be a cartoonist or journalist at the time, but I had a keen desire to be published..  That's me in the dark sweater, looking about 12 years old.

After earning a degree in art at Murray State University, I still had no idea where I was headed. Jobs in the art market were scarce in Kentucky..  Less than a year and a half later, with a mere $500 to my name,  I drove my behemoth, silver 1969 Oldsmobile Toronado to Hollywood, California.

No, that's not Mick Jagger, it's me in 1975.  Thanks to Kentucky humidity, my hair changed style by the hour.

But there's something to be said for youthful optimism, because as it happened,  I did get into animation and have worked steadily for the past 25 years as an effects animator and storyboard artist for such studios as Amblin, Disney and DreamWorks.  My updated list of credits are listed here on the Internet Movie Database Source. Still not forgetting my old dream of someday being published, I decided to try my hand at children's books. I got a few rejections before Isaac the Ice Cream Truck was published in 1999.

Here I am in more recent times.  Above,  at a book signing in hometown Louisville, Kentucky, playing the song from Isaac.  What's an ice cream truck without a song?

Here's my favorite picture of my dog, Jackie (October 2, 1991-April 29, 2006), a standard poodle.  Those aren't puppies, they're bedroom slippers with an uncanny resemblance.  Jackie makes guest appearances in all my books.

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