I was never really good about keeping sketchbooks mainly because A. I never had the time and B. I never had the discipline to fill one up. Sad to say, I have stacks of unfinished sketchbooks, but recently, I purchased a small 6X4 inch Moleskine and I no longer feel the pressure of having to fill such a huge book anymore. Small and compact is the way I go! I can just throw it in my pocket along with a pen and off I go. I've started a new Tumblr account to showcase the little drawings (Tumblr really is the best platform to do so, I think) and you can see 'em all. I'm also selling them each for a measely $25 smackaroos!

So head on over and peruse the work AND if you're ever interested in seeing more sketches I'm sure I'll be updating it and you can find a link to it at the little tab on the left side of this site called "SKETCHES FOR SALE"

A SLOW GROWING MASS OF TANGIBLE THOUGHTS

I've been busy. I can't tell you or show you how busy I've been but, I've been busy. So busy in fact that I haven't had time to blog, and you all know how good I am about blogging. With that said the stone is still rolling down the steep hill and isn't showing signs of gathering moss any time soon. So, with that said, this will be a very quick post.

Comic Con was fun. ALA was a blast. Hawaii was not relaxing at all (but that's a styory for another day)

I recently finished illustrating a bunch of books (more on that MUCH later) and SCBWI Summer Conference is next weekend.

Many folks have been asking about the Sidekicks preorder packet. I want you all to know that after two months of constant travel I have managed to get time to finally start signing all the copies and print out the prints and prep all the packages and should, hopefully, get them out by next week. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding.

I'd love to stay and chat more but I'm drowning in deadlines.

Talk soon.

Sorry for the lack of posts for the past few weeks. 2011 has seriously been a whirlwind of a busy year for me and I haven't been home much to settle down long enough to write anything. I will plan on blogging about past events, such as ALA, as soon as I can. In the mean time I'm off to the San Diego Comic Con today or as I have dubbed it "The Annual Running of the Nerds"

This is a special year for me, though. This will be the first time I am actually selling goods at the event!

Here are a few pictures of me getting my stuff prepared...

FIND ME AT SECTION E1 ROW 700

I'll be selling paperback copies of Sidekicks, a few hardcovers of OH NO!, Art prints, sketches from my sketchbook, as well as commissions.

Here are a few prints I'm selling...

and here are a few samples of sketches that will be for sale....

Here is my schedule so far....

THURSDAY 7-9:30

If you got an invite I will be attending a special Scholastic signing Thursday night 7PM at the Hilton Bayfront which will feature the likes of Jeff Smith, Raina Telgemeier, Kazu Kibuishi, Jake Parker, Doug TenNapel, and many many more. We'll be signing our books and everyone gets a gift bag and stuff.

SATURDAY 4:30-5:30

Transforming Super-Powered Comic Book Readers into

Super-Powered Comic Book Writers

San Diego Convention Center—Room 26AB

 This presentation focuses on how parents, teachers, and librarians can build upon the popularity of graphic novels and transform present-day readers of graphic novels into future writers of graphic novels. 

Meanwhile I'll be twittering all that is going on. @dsantat

See you all at the Con!

Well, here it is folks. Sidekicks is out in stores and now you can all go out and read it and judge for yourselves if all the chatting up and promotion that I did was all worth the effort. There are a few things that need to be taken care of before I head off to my family vacation in Hawaii tomorrow.

THANKS

While we're all here reading this post I wanted to take the time to thank a few folks who played a significant part in the completion of this book.

Thanks to Cameron Petty, Mike Boldt, John Gibson, Tony Etienne, Vince Dorse, and Oskar Van Velden for assisting me with coloring Sidekicks. Without their help I would have drowned in an endless sea of half completed sketches. I sent out a call for help on my blog last year and these guys all came knocking at my virtual doorstep. We completed the work by exchanging files through my FTP account and I paid them through Paypal. Oskar is from the Netherlands. Paypal converted the currency easily. You guys all get copies of the books, and there is a special thanks to each of you in the dedication.

Thanks to Phil Falco, the excellent art director at Scholastic, who helped me with pacing and allowed me to stretch my legs and run with it.

Thanks to Arthur Levine, for taking the chance on a one sentence submission and being so patient with me throughout this project. (FYI, It was an unusual circumstance I don't recommend you all do that to Arthur, BTW)

Thanks to Rachel Griffiths, my editor throughout the project and the one person who really kicked my pants towards the end of the stretch. She kept coming back at me and asking to polish the art over and over again. I literally wanted to stop and quit but Rachel kept kicking me in the pants telling me this can be better. And it did. It was better than anything I could ever imagine. Even at the end she kept telling me certain parts could be better, and now that I see it in print I realize that. Oh well, next time.

Thanks to my wife who had the patience to never see or hear from me while working on this book. I guess I'll wash the dishes FOREVER.

Thanks to Kazu Kibuishi, Jenni Holm, and Doug Tennapel, for the wonderful press blurbs and support.

Thanks to all the marketing and publicity folks at Scholastic who planned and prepped me for ALA, SF, Comic Con, and future events. As you can see I've been scatterbrained lately and I wouldn't find my hotel key if it was in my own pocket.

Lastly, a thank you to all of you librarians, comic lovers, parents, and kids who read the book, enjoy it, and pass it on to your friends and family to share. 

THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

As you know I've been collecting presales for my book so that I can use that money to buy my own graphic novel at a local independent bookstore. Because of your support I managed to muster up 85 books sold for Mrs. Nelsons Toy and Book Shop in La Verne, CA. All day today I've been linking and tweeting where you can purchase Sidekicks at local bookstores. The point I'm making is that shopping local doesn't just mean you have to go to the store. Almost every independent bookstore out there exists in some form on the web and the first place everyone thinks to buy is at Amazon. Now, I'm not DISCOURAGING anyone from buying from any major retail store or even Amazon books, but as the sales of eBooks begin picking up steam (and they most certainly will gain more momentum as time goes on) it's these independents that will be the first to go. The importance of inde

Scholastic MONDAY JUNE 27 @11:00 AM

Comics Creation: Graphic Novels for Younger Readers from Script to Panel

MONDAY JUNE 27 @1:30-3:30

New Orleans Convention Center – Room 284

This past weekend I was up in San Francisco giving lectures at Book Passage in Corte Madera and then at Hicklebees in San Jose. In between the two visits I was also taken on a tour of Chronicle Books, easily one of the most beautiful publishing houses in the business. I didn't take a picture of the inside (imagine Mad Men meets California modern and run by women) This is what the outside looked like...

Just check out the awesome window display that Valerie Lewis and the folks at Hicklebees did for my book....

A lot of people showed up. Way more than I had expected for little old me...

Hicklebees has Sidekicks for sale RIGHT NOW! So, if you can't wait until July to get your copy then go buy it at their site right now! HERE

As an exclusive it comes with one of my nifty limited edition Sidekicks stickers.

As you all know I'm a big supporter of Independent booksellers....

So afterwards I had to head home. This is where the trip got really exciting. So the signing went past the hour and I left Hicklebees about a half hour later than I had to. By the time I got to the airport I had a little over an hour to get my bag checked and get to my gate. Fine. The wait to get to the check in took a while. By the time I got up to the window it was 45 minutes until boarding. I swiped my card and was DENIED!

"Sorry Sir, if you didn't check in 45 minutes prior to the flight then you can't boad the flight."

I hate United Airlines.....

So they took my bag and I was put on standby for the next flight. Unfortunately, I learn just 20 minutes before boarding that the flight has been oversold and there were no other flights out of San Francisco to Burbank until tomorrow.

This posed as a problem.

The next day was my 8th anniversary with my wife and inside my luggage was my gift for her and it was going to head to Burbank without me. This made me frantic (you'll understand in a minute) So my options were to stay until tomorrow OR I could rent a car.....

I chose Plan B....

Hey folks, I'm off to San Francisico this weekend to participate in the Book Passage children's book workshop. I'll be giving courses on illustration, making a graphic novel, and doing a panel with Mac Barnett

Here's a run down of where I'll be on Saturday and Sunday...

http://www.bookpassage.com/childrens-writers-illustrators-conference-schedule

In other news, if you meet me and you ask nicely you might get one of these....

Lastly, I got an awesome gift in the mail today from my editor. When the Junior Library Guild honors your book as a selection you are given a pin. I have many friends who have a collection of these, but this is my first, and that makes it special....

See you all in the Bay!

Hey folks,

We're 15 days away from the release of Sidekicks and the word is out from almost all of the major reviewers! Here are just some tidbits I have recieved from my editor in the past month.....

Publishers Weekly May 2, 2011
“Santat's lively, colorful illustrations convey the action and humor that infuse the tale. The book functions both as a parable of sibling rivalry and overworked parents stretched too thin, and as a rollicking adventure tale.”
 
Horn Book, July/August 2011
“Santat breaks welcome new ground here with what should be a popular graphic novel, thanks to the genre mash-up (animals and superheroes) and the appealing, cartoonish artwork with bold geometric shapes and bright primary colors.”
 
Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2011
“The lovable menagerie of crime-fighting pets offers lots of laughs and a boisterous and exuberant storyline; Santat’s illustrations are clear, engaging and neatly stacked into easy-to-read panels. While there is no mention of a sequel, subsequent volumes would certainly fly off the shelf faster than a speeding bullet, so here's hoping.
A vibrant volume sure to zoom, pow and swoosh its way into the hands (and hearts) of young superhero fans. Extremely entertaining.”
 
Fuse 8 / SLJ Blog, review of the day, April 21, 2011
“It’s one of those books that you just feel good reading from start to finish. Gorgeous stuff.”
http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2011/04/21/review-of-the-day-sidekicks-by-dan-santat/#comments 
 
The-Trades.com, A- review, May 9, 2011
“The fun is in the journey with this funny and touching adventure for comic book lovers of all ages.”
http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=12494
 
ComixTalk.com, review, May 18, 2011
“The writing is very good but the art is fantastic. I really loved his style and how he designed the many animal characters in the story. There's a ton of joy in the visuals to this book. This is a strongly recommended book, particularly for its target age group of 8 to 12 years old. It's due in stores on July 1st - be sure to look out for it.”
http://comixtalk.com/sidekicks_dan_santat

BAY AREA FRIENDS!!

I'm going to be speaking at Book Passage on Saturday and Sunday! If you are in the Bay Area I would love to see you and maybe get together for drinks. I will also be speaking at Hicklebees on Monday. Refer to this link for more details http://dantat.typepad.com/dantat/2011/05/events-and-such.html

I will be giving away cool stuff in the form of secret passwords and stickers!

Thanks to Scholastic, various ads ran all over the PW Comic Weekly Newsletter today.

There was this....

this....

and this...

and this....

(they should be animating but for some reason they are not)

Anyway, thank you Scholastic for the promotional love!

My editor sent me this image this morning. When I first stepped into the lobby of the Scholastic main headquarters on 555 Broadway in Manhattan as a young talentless art student back in 1999 I was in awe of the place. The first thing I noticed was that they were showing book trailers for some of their big titles and blasting the audio so that you could hear it all the way up to the second floor. I had dreams of one day having one of my books being shown in that lobby.

Well, dream no more my son.....

Next week is the start of June and the one month countdown to the release of my graphic novel. You  will probably get an earful about it from everywhere you go and starting next week I will be blogging about the book showing off first drawings and the evolution of things so you can get a good idea of what I got done in the last seven years. June will be a ridiculously busy month of travel for me as well. Here is a list of events that I will be attending....

JUNE 11

SCBWI ILLUSTRATORS' ART INTENSIVE
Saturday, June 11, 2011 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
at 2233 W Dunlap Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85021

I will most likely be revealing all my powers. How else am I going to fill this WHOLE DAY?!?!

For more info click HERE

JUNE 18-19

CWIC BOOK PASSAGE, SAN FRANCISCO

I will be a part of these two panels...

THE WORLD OF GRAPHIC NOVELS
Dan Santat

AN AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR COLLABORATION
Mac Barnett & Dan Santat

My plan is to outdress Mac Barnett.

For more info click HERE

JUNE 20

GO GRAPHIC! at HICKLEBEE'S  (San Jose, CA)

One of the greatest independent book stores in the country and one of the few places in the world that has an autographed wall by JK Rowling with a drawing of the sorting hat

I will be discussing about making graphic novels. The lovely Miss Jenni Holm of countless famous titles will also be a participant to talk about the "Babymouse" series and her new series "Super Amoeba" illustrated by her talented brother and partner in crime, Matt Holm

For more info click HERE

JUNE 23-28

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE (NEW ORELANS, LA)

Monday JUNE 27th 1:30-3:30PM

COMICS CREATION: Graphic Novels for Younger Readers from Script to Panel

For more info click HERE

IF I see you at any of these events introduce yourself and I will be giving away very limited edition goodies such as vinyl stickers, unpublished postcard art, and possibly a few plush dolls. (While supplies last)

Lastly, I leave you with this AMAZING review of the book dished out by KIRKUS... HERE

I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks because I have a ridiculously busy schedule which will be plaguing me until the end of July. With that said I still want to keep up my once a week schedule so I thought I'd share with all of you a first look at the actual finished SIDEKICKS book. Here are a few images to whet your appetite.

While I am also assembling the "Making of" art book for all the preorder folks I thougth it would be nice to share the very fist drawing that I did of them circa 2000 while I was just a wee lad in art school....

This was back when they were called "The Domesticated Six", in fact, that was the title it had on my contract.

Lastly, here are some author photos I had to shoot for some upcoming Scholastic events....

Keep fighting the good fight folks!

I believe this is the male equivalent of giving birth....

More about it next week.

I did one more sketch for Star Wars Day late yesterday afternoon so I thought I'd post and share with all my non Facebook friends. It's the lesser known Lower Case J Fighter

I'm a little swamped with work so here's a simple sketch I did this morning of Han and Chewie for Star Wars Day (May 4th)

Peace out.

I was not expecting this to arrive at my door on Monday....

When I opened the box I learned that it was sent from my new friends at Little, Brown....

More specifically, my new editor Connie Hsu!

Yes, these cookies are as good as they look...

This bake shop is located in LA and wouldn't you know that it takes a gal from New York to open my eyes to a place in my own town?

I need to get out more.

So as you can probably tell from the letter inside I'm doing more stuff for Little, Brown. I'm very pleased to say that I'm currently working on the sequel to Nanny Piggins tentatively titled "Nanny Piggins and the Wicked Plan". Here's a sketch....

Starting at the end of this year I'm also illustrating a book by author Samantha Berger called "Crankenstein"

But that's not why I got the cookies. I actually just got a two picture book deal with Connie and Co. which are tentatively scheduled to be released in 2014. (Technically, I've known about this deal about a month ago but I never thought about announcing it until I got the awesome cookies) I'm going to be hush hush on the books themselves and I'll let Little, Brown make that formal announcement when/if they do a Publishers Marketplace announcement sort of thing (I don't know how these things work)

Meanwhile, this is a really big happy moment for me. I'm finally *officially* back on the writing horse again since SIDEKICKS.

Speaking of SIDEKICKS....

I've kept a rather low key in terms of talking about it because in the next month or so you're probably going to hear me talk about nothing but it and so I'm sparing you the misery.

I will say this though, it received a wonderful review from Booklist (I'll share more on that later) and this great review from the very lovely Betsy Bird on her Fuse #8 Blog seen here.

I'm also pleased to announce that the book was picked up by Scholastic Book Fairs AND Book CLUBS!

OK, I think you've heard enough about it.

Have a great week folks.

TEAM L,B!

I was at the SCBWI Western Washington Conference over the weekend.

It rained.

It rained a lot.

Many folks told me that it was like that for most of the year.

I would go insane from lack of sunlight, but the company was lovely.

I saw Bill Gates house. That was cool.

Then I cried at the end of my keynote presentation. When I thought about all the work it took to get to that point in my life I just felt like I took a wrong turn somewhere in life and I was just so happy to finally be where I wanted to be.

I also did an art intensive with the lovely Anne Moore of Candlewick. I gave out a 25 page handout that will hopefully let folks learn on their own. I also took submitted art samples and altered them in Photoshop to show each person how I would personally improve on their work. This is a sample of my lovely friend Jaime Temairik's work....

and I did this.....

She won second place in the portfolio competition and is also a recent client of the Writers House family.

See more of her work here.

NOW, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE GREATEST CUP OF COFFEE I EVER HAD....

Friend and fellow author/illustrator Richard Jesse Watson was kind enough to bring his entire coffee setup to make me one of the smoothest most complex cups of coffee I've ever had, and it was all by simply roasting his select beans by himself. It was quite the experience.

Here are pictures detailing the experience....

The raw bean

Richard had to unhinge the window in order to roast the beans in his popcorn popper. All the smoke would have triggered the fire alarm in the hotel room.

Richard roasted a blend of light, medium, and dark....

So it seems as if Scholastic is starting to slowly release the marketing hounds on my upcoming graphic novel. The real push for it won't come until May/June-ish but in the mean time they said that I could go ahead and release this new more *official* trailer for Sidekicks.

Here it is. Hope you like it....

Getting excused from jury duty has liong been a time honored American past time. It's our duty to serve our time for the country we live in and at the same time it is also our duty to evade the system so we don't have to serve for reasons our nation really doesn't care to hear. Granted when so many people give excuses the government makes it harder and harder to excuse people. I had to serve for jury duty on Monday and I've noticed that these days it's gotten so bad that I see people Googling on their iPhones about how to get out of jury duty. I see people chatting with one another about strategies. When one person went in to give an excuse another person shouted, "Good luck, dude!"

Don't ask me what I think is a better alternative to what we have now because my life is too inundated with deadlines and family responsibilities to really care outside of the other 364 days they don't call me to report for jury duty. But when you say you hate jury duty.... Have you ever given any thought outside of "it disrupts my daily life" about why you REALLY hate jury duty? I have, and I thought I'd share some with you

1. IT IS HORRIBLY OUTDATED

It's impossible to be excused for financial hardship anymore. You can't claim a family dependent unless they're under five years old (and they have to be your own kids) and if you care for an elder grandparent then they're just out of luck and should anticipate that they're watching People's Court on their own today.  None of these excuses work and yet it's still addressed in the jury summons form which is a moot point because they will reject everyone's claim anyway. Even if you're below the financial poverty level they won't excuse you and yet they insist that if it was extremely harsh financial conditions then they would make an exception. I have no idea what would be worse than being below poverty level.

Here are a few hypothetical answers to some financial hardship claims....

Q: Are you employed?

A: No

Q: Delightful, then we're not taking you away from anything important. Have a seat.

Q: Are you employed, sir?

A: Yes I am, but they don't pay me for days I take off from work and I need to make my rent

Q: Do you live by yourself?

A: No, I'm married

Q: Does she work?

A: Yes.

Q: Then she'll pick up your slack. Have a seat.

2. THE JUDGE HAS TO BE THERE, TOO

In the beginning of jury duty they do an orientation speech which goes something along the lines of, "Thank you and welcome. You're doing a great service for us and we thank you because we know you don't want to be here. We know we're inconveniencing you and your hard schedules BUT WE HAVE TO BE HERE TOO!"

Hey judge, you have to be there because you WORK THERE and last time I checked you got paid a heck of a lot more than I do.

3. BACK IN THE OLD DAYS

After the first 5 minutes of the orientation spiel the judge will go on to ramble on about how back in the old days you used to have to serve a whole week. With today's one jury one trial system you just have to be here for one day. That's it.

First of all, people served jury duty for a whole week back when I was five years old. My dad used to do that and though I concur that it sucked it was thirty years ago and you're still using that stupid "greener pastures" speech. It

I've been preparing for my keynote at the SCBWI Western Washington conference next month and I dug up this gem from my basement.

See this?....

This is a reminder of where I was eleven years ago. This was circa summer of 2000? I flew out to New York with a friend of mine and for one week I did the portfolio drop off to all the major book publishers in the city. This was a little leaflet that I left in my portfolio for art directors to make notes on for any advice. I was still in art school and I wanted to get a feel of how the professional world viewed my work before I unleashed myself to the hounds. I wanted to be prepared. I still remember that when I got this note I was a little devastated. Scholastic was a dream publisher to work for. Now, when I reflect on this letter, I think of the portfolio I had at that time and I completely agree with David Saylor. (If I still had that portfolio I would have shown you some images but I unfortunately I don't) 

I wasn't ready, and in fact, that was the common response (with exception to Henry Holt) from all the art directors at the time. Getting a response from someone like David Saylor was a huge step for me and though the notes weren't detailed they still spoke volumes. I didn't cut the mustard. I had to work harder!  

At one point in life everyone feels the sting of criticism and there comes that fork in the road. Do I give up the dream of being an artist or do I fight harder and learn from this? It goes for anything in life really. When I am asked to critique portfolios for SCBWI I find that it's best to not be too harsh to most people. Yes, I understand, people can be sensitive, but there is also a part of me that feels that if you're paying $300 or more for a conference that you should get some advice to improve your work so you can get to that next level to reach your dream. I've seen people cry, get mad at their reviewers, and even heard that cliche shout of denial,  "I'LL SHOW YOU SOMEDAY!!! YOU'LL BE SORRY!!!!"

I often give one or two bits of advice, a list of artists they should reference, and end with a "Keep your chin up!" sort of send off. It's as much as I can give so as not to be too attached to a person and be judged for judging them. I don't need that extra drama in my life. I was in high school years ago. I HATE drama. It's not that I don't want to help more but there is always the fear of a backlash which keeps me restrained from giving my full honest review. If I'm too harsh I'm viewed as an insensitive jerk. If I'm too easy then I don't feel like I'm being fair to you in helping you improve.

But here's the God honest truth...

It's never personal.

In the end, the critiques are what will make you a better artist. I, as well as the other reviewers, are never out to crush your soul, and we say it over and over again. If you want to be better you have to hear it. When I send my stuff out to friends I don't want compliments because that gets me nowhere. Even when I get compliments from friends I ask, "Did you really mean that or are you just saying that because we're friends?"

There comes a point where some people just like to hear the compliments and their work just seems to plateau. They've settled. They feel like they're good enough and by that I don't mean that their work isn't sincerely good, but they don't know how to improve and get to that next level. It's not that the person can't get to the next level, but after years of hearing nothing but compliments it's easy to assume that it's the publishing industry not giving them that big break. That may also be true but that's where constructive criticism comes in.

Although art is

I remember years ago while surfing the web while I was stumbling around the internet when I came across musical composer John Tesh's website. On his site he had a link to a webcam to his studio so you could see the "artist" at work. I thought this was a pretty nifty idea and years later I finally decided it would be nice to add a little more to my own site by giving you all a glimpse of my daily life in the studio. On the left you can find a tab called ME AND MY CLONE where you can see daily picture of me and my life in the studio. I think it could possibly be an invaluable experience for those of you who are interested in getting into the publishing industry to see how things are done first hand and a great learning experience for kids who are curious about how an artist/author makes books.

Now, onto book stuff...

I'm almost done with "Fire! Fuego! Brave Bomberos" for Bloomsbury. My method has been quite time consuming and so the last few days of this book have been hectic. I just completed the endpapers for the book. The front endpapers have the characters running to the fire. The back endpapers post the aftermath of the event with the pages of the book being burned.

Peace out.

I just had my annual tax meeting for the year and I realize that it's the one thing I hate more than jury duty. (Oh, by the way, I have jury duty at the end of the month. Hoo-ray.)

Taxes for a freelancer is a pain in the butt. Here's the bad part of taxes as a freelancer...

You have to keep all your receipts, keep track of all your expenses, do all your own promotion, send out all your own invoices, pay quarterly estimates, do your own networking and on and on etc. etc. etc.

I hate working for me.

I never give myself a day off. I'm always working on holidays. I constantly stay in the office way later than I should. My XBox sits in the corner collecting dust. I'm an awful boss.

When I worked for Activision I would have received a nice W-2, handed it off to my tax guy, fill in the numbers and BAM! Done. See you next year.

I did have a decent year though. "Decent" means I paid my mortgage and kept food on the table while managing to still do all the house chores and MAYBE put in an eight hour day. "Decent" means I can keep doing all this for another year.

BUT here's the lighter side of freelancing and taxes....

Although taxes are just the annual reminder of all the hardship and struggle you had the previous year every receipt you calculate is a memory. 

When I calculate receipts I find myself saying.....

"I remember this coffee I bought at ALA."

"That dinner with friends at Comic Con was great. I even remember the sandwich I ate."

"Hey, this was when I had to take my laptop into the Genius Bar to get the hard drive replaced"

"I remember how happy I was when I got this check. The bank account was low on funds and I was wondering when that publisher was going to pay me"

Calculating your expenses and income is sort of like looking at the rings of a tree. Every receipt gives a location, a date and time, and a memory.

You don't really realize how much you really do in a year as a freelancer until you do taxes. It makes me reflect on the efforts and hard work I put in and gives me a greater sense of pride in being my own boss.

    I didn't blog on my normally scheduled Tuesdays like I usually do because I wanted to wait for some "things" to evolve. Hopefully, by next week I can announce some important news but in the mean time I'm slavin away on book projects. I've been busy burning paper and making water bleed off of cheap paper to wrap up this fireman book that's due next week. Here's an example of the effect I was trying to achieve..

I wanted the effect to be subtle so not to overpower the whole illustration and the text. With that said, I've taken plenty of pictures (and video) of the process and I'll share it with you at a later time (closer to the book release)

Lastly, since work has been so insane lately people have suggested I hire an assistant, so I went out and got one. Here's a picture of us two.

Follow us and our antics on Twitter @dsantat

Within the last few weeks I've been juggling a bunch of different projects, some for me and some of other clients. Either way I feel like I'm producing at a much higher rate than I have in the last three years.

Here's the weekly screen....

I've never been a huge fan of pitching TV shows, but recently, I found myself at Disney Channel this last week pitching some new show ideas, which I really hadn't done since "The Replacements" was airing. I figured, "Hey, why haven't I been taking more advantage of the opportunities given to me?" 

I'm writing more, too. My agent currently has a few of my picture book manuscripts floating around and I've been getting some pretty good responses. I hadn't shopped around anything of my own in over seven years so it's nice to know that in this tough market I can still write something that's somewhat appealing.

Speaking of writing, Publisher's Weekly just posted a list of Spring 2011 publications and Sidekicks is on the Scholastic list! My book is actually a July release and I thought that was Summer, but whatever. I'm sharing the release with Lisa Yee's new book WARP SPEED along with Shaun Tan's LOST & FOUND. Not shabby company if you ask me...

Which leads me to this video I made this last week for an upcoming book party I'm having with Lisa Yee at Vroman's Bookstore here in Pasadena. Wait for the bloopers at the end.

Meanwhile, I'm currently cutting a new Sidekicks trailer specifically for Scholastic's promotion campaign.

While I'm on the topic of Sidekicks, here's another deleted image that ended up not making the cut of the book which will be featured in my ART OF SIDEKICKS book for all you preorders out there. It's a tech printout of the DNA Transfer device and how it works....

Lastly, here are a few quick announcements of things that are coming out which feature my work....

Manners Mash-Up is in stores right now. It features myself along with a ton of other great folks. It's been receiving wonderful reviews and it makes a great gift. Here's my contribution....