Which of your books is your snowflake most “like”?
When I painted the snowflake I had just finished a new picture book that comes out in February called Mama’s Little Duckling. It has a softer, more atmospheric quality than my other books.
How did you come up with the idea for your snowflake?
The snowflakes are small, so I wanted to do something fairly simple and graphic. I decided a snowman would be fun.
What did you think about while you were working on it?
I kept thinking that I want to keep this simple and not worry about the details. The mood was most
important.
What medium is your snowflake?
Acrylics
More About Mike
6 Words to Describe His Art and Style
6 Highlights of His Career
1. My senior year in high school won a statewide art contest with a drawing I did of my dad. This led to a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design.
2. Meeting David Shannon my freshman year in college. After seeing his presentation I knew I wanted to be an illustrator.
3. Doing a cover illustration for Spider magazine.
4. When Random House called me to illustrate my first book, Counting Sheep.
5. Meeting editor Michelle Copella at a SCBWI conference. I illustrated three books with her.
6. Visiting New York last fall and meeting with 12 publishers.
Mike has a truly excellent
website, and I hope you'll visit it and browse through all the great art and info. But here are 6 facts about Mike that you won't learn from that site:
1. We just had a baby girl, Olivia, at the end of October.
2. I share a studio with 8 other artists in Northeast Minneapolis in the Northrup King Building.
3. I enjoy running, reading, doing crossword puzzles and playing softball.
4. My favorite TV show is The Office.
5. I come from a large family. I have three brothers and three sisters.
6. I love being a dad. I love the joy in Mike's snowman, the feeling that he's about to dance right off the page. In that spirit, I wrote a silly snowman poem (all three of the illustrators I've featured have used snowmen on their flakes, and I'm starting to feel quite a camaraderie with them, especially since I sat here this morning watching the first snow fly).
Feel free to
email Mike to let him know what you think of his snowflake. Like many of us, he's juggling work and (new) parenthood, and you know how nice a few pats on the back are!
And the
Robert's Snow auctions start on Monday, November 19. Have you picked the flake(s) you want to bid on yet? There are so many cool ones. This year I'm determined to snag one. Outta my way!