"In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth. You'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you're doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them. To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed , and I think you'll be happier for the trouble."
Bill Watterson
creator of Calvin and Hobbes

Thumbnail sketch for "Black Belt", written and illus.d by me, edited by Andrea Cascardi and publ.d by Knopf. Used to hand cut the copy and stick it onto the sketched layout. Now, of course, I just scan the art and place the type in photoshop. However, I'm starting to get back to the process of placing the text by hand. Works better for me. Give's me a better sense of the text block as a design element when I can hold it in my paws. Pencil, 1997.

“The only way to learn how to write and draw is by writing and drawing … to persist in the face of continual rejection requires a deep love of the work itself, and learning that lesson kept me from ever taking Calvin and Hobbes for granted when the strip took off years later.”
Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes
"Watterson sacrificed millions (probably hundreds of millions) of dollars bynever licensing and merchandising Calvin and Hobbes. He went through a long and traumatic fight with his syndicate over the licensing rights, and although he eventually prevailed, Watterson was so disillusioned with the industry he almost quit cartooning. 'I worked too long to get this job, and worked too hard once I got it, to let other people run away with my creation once it became successful. If I could not control what my own work was about and stood for, then cartooning meant very little to me... It’s pretty incredible when you think about. Could you say ‘no’ to millions, I repeat, MILLIONS of dollars of merchandise money? I don’t know if I could. Would you stop creating your art if millions of people admired your work and kept wanting more? I don’t know if I would.'.”
Gavin Aung Than, cartoonist

Sketches from my son Gabriel's cub scout meeting. Pen&Ink, 1998.

Near the end of the last millennium I went back to Arlington for Christmas. Went to church with my Mom and did some sketches of her choir director for her. Drawing makes everything fun. Pencil, 1998. 

Sketch for the cover of "Spider"

Sketch for the cover of "Spider", a children's magazine from the Cricket publishing group. The issue covered stories from Australia. Pencil, 1998.

Studies of the scapula. In the 1990's I took it upon myself to give myself a little education in muscle/bone structure. I figured that if I was going to spend as much time as I did drawing/warping the underlying structure of my characters I should get a better understanding of the source material- bones and muscles. Got myself some anatomy books and started doing some daily sketches. Here's one. Pencil, 1998.

Sketch of Jack Kagan, a Holocaust survivor whose story is shared in Doreen Rappaport's fantastic "Beyond Courage". I did the sketch of Jack while listening to Doreen give a lecture on her work. Doreen gave her presentation old-school fashion- not a lot of powerpoint, just a heck of a lot of power coming from the stories she shared, her voice and method of story telling. Really enjoyed her talk. This is a picture of Jack as he made his first escape from the Novogrudok labor camp. You'll find a quick interview with Jack and Doreen below which shares more of Jack's courageous story. Also, I found Jack's picture on this link, which I hadn't seen before doing the drawing. Pen&Ink, 2013.

Thumbnail sketches for "Call of the Wild", illus.d by me and publ.d by Hallmark Cards Publishing. Pencil, 2000.