My sense of nostalgia is
seasoned with a healthy dose of cynicism. I fondly remember the TV shows and
books I loved as a child. But my recreations and tributes to them are always
run through the filter of adult experience.
When illustrator extraordinaire
Daryll Collins showed me an unused project of his, it struck that cord. It was
a hilarious blend of childhood nostalgia and adult cynicism. Daryll had written
and illustrated a twelve-page, b&w book, called “Are You Our Daddy?” It was the story of two
curious twins who just wanted a straight answer from their very busy mom. Their
confusion came from the endless stream of men who passed through their house.
For all they knew they could be related to the postman, or the plumber, or even
the pizza man.
As I said, Daryll’s story
resonated with me, plus it was pretty darn funny. So I suggested we pair it
with a story of mine to fill out the book and publish it as a parody of those
books we all got when we were young. This would be our Little Olden Book.
I began writing and drawing my
story while Daryll rendered his in color. He worked in Photoshop and I set
about rendering mine in Adobe Illustrator. My story became one of those “let’s
find out about different jobs” kind of stories that were so often foisted on
children in the hopes they would become productive members of society, and not
cartoonists. “Chester Hare Gets a Job” follows a young rabbit who is looking
for work and learns the valuable lesson that everyone hates their jobs*.
In designing the book, I wanted
to give both of us a cover so it became a flipbook. Read Daryll’s story, turn
it over and begin again on mine. I also designed interior pages to mimic the
Little Golden Books exactly, even down to the list of “other” titles at the
end. Here was some of the funniest material in the collection. Nearly 200
titles of outrageous children’s literature, like: Horton Hears a Ho, The
Chicken Bride, The Shy Little Pimp, Goodnight Crack Head, The Bi-Polar Express,
‘Twas The Night Before Trash Day, Snow White’s Racist Rant, DJ & The Sticky
PJs, The Dyslexic CBAs, and so on. You get the idea. We had a blast coming up
with these.
Above are the book covers,
below, some interior pages. Along the left side of the blog is the link to
order this book online or catch me at a convention. I always have copies. Maybe
one day I’ll do a book that can actually be read to children.
*Except us cartoonists.
I came onto your blog while focusing just slightly submits. Nice strategy for next, I will be bookmarking at once seize your complete rises
ReplyDeletebedtime story
We have read the blog and it's a nice thing in your blog. Really helpful with the information provided.Thank you for the post. For more information visit:- Russian escort Shanghai
ReplyDeleteWow its amazing blog post ..
ReplyDeleteShanghairussianescort