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Born and raised in Los Angeles. I began drawing birthday cards for my friends when I was 13. It was then that I wanted to become a cartoonist (big fan of Berkely Breathed, but don't tell him, it will go to his head). At one point, I had developed two comic strips, The Moth Man and Cracker Cats which appeared in my college newspaper. After starting and stopping and starting again, finally graduated from California State University of Fullerton with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Illustration. Still had a desire to draw comics, I turned my attention towards children’s books. And what better way to do that then by teaching. Found I was good at that as well. So now I’m a teacher.

I love cartoons, comic books, comic strips, political cartoons (they make me laugh), animated movies, and picture books. Almost anything drawn that tells a good story. I love playing basketball. I enjoy drawing and painting on my computer because it allows me to try new things easily, different colors and textures, like the effect of metal my new book. If I don't like something, I delete it and try something else. I learned to use the computer as a tool to illustrate after taking a course in college. I’m always trying new styles and approaches to technique. New technology, like my drawing tablet that has an LCD screen in it so I can draw directly onto the image, has been a big influence in using the computer to create the images.

I came up with the idea for The Trouble with Sisters and Robots after getting a piece of metal in my eye. Apparently, metal will rust in your eye if you leave it for even one day. After having the metal and rust removed, my friends began teasing me (they know I have a good sense of humor, so it was ok) and called me Rusteye. I thought "that would be a great name for a robot." After many versions, including one where Rusteye was an evil robot on a planet full of robots, and dozens of rewrites, The Trouble with Sisters and Robots was born. And if you can believe it, I once had the working title of "Shut up Lizzy!" but that didn't sound to nice.

I have been married to Lyssa for 17 years and have two beautiful children (they make me laugh too). We currently live in Washington just outside of Seattle.

And chocolate is the best food ever invented!

Born and raised in Los Angeles. I began drawing birthday cards for my friends when I was 13. It was then that I wanted to become a cartoonist (big fan of Berkely Breathed, but don't tell him, it will go to his head). At one point, I had developed two comic strips, The Moth Man and Cracker Cats which appeared in my college newspaper. After starting and stopping and starting again, finally grad... More