lthough I may not yet be well known for my writing, I did in fact write this biography! I’m perhaps better known for my extensive work illustrating books for children or as my own children say, “good” books.

Illustrating has always come first for me. While I can distinctly remember trying to draw an old west-style wagon in our Massachusetts home, I most certainly could not write the word “wagon.” I was only three, but I do remember the drawing.

After years of moving around the East Coast and living abroad for a time, I attended Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where I studied illustration. One of my teachers, the esteemed David Macaulay, looked at my work and pointed me in the direction of Ernest Shepard. I knew immediately that these were the kinds of books I was interested in creating, and I began working professionally in my junior year.

Sidenote: Many years later, in the hopes of discovering the secrets of art that were clearly only known by the teachers at RISD, I became a member of the faculty — only to discover that there are no secrets. People that are really enjoying themselves tend to produce work that is good.

In 1993, I began making books with my friend (then editor) Patti Gauch. My first book, The Fool of The World and The Flying Ship, was praised by Publishers Weekly as “a stunning book debut.” Luckily, someone showed that article to Brian Jacques (author of the Redwall series) and he wrote The Great Redwall Feast for me to illustrate. Brian liked my work, so he wrote a second picture book, A Redwall Winter’s Tale, which went on to become a New York Times bestseller.

Since then, I’ve been fortunate to work with other talented authors including Jane Yolen, Phyllis Root (Oliver Finds His Way, Candlewick Press 2002), David Elliot, Joy Cowley, and with my wife, Anika Denise (Pigs Love Potatoes, Philomel 2007) who is also a writer. Our next book, Bella & Stella, will be out in 2010 (Philomel).

When I am not illustrating books for children or writing a bio, I work as a visual development artist / character designer for animated features. But my favorite job of all, of course, is being Dad to two wonderful little girls and husband to my wife, who encouraged me to write this bio myself, instead of asking her to write it for me.