Mo Willems Interview

A winning article about children's book writer/illustrator Mo Willems titled "He Writes, He draws, and He's Very Funny" by Steven Ellis from the May 22, 2007 Christian Science Monitor:

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Like many kids, Mr. Willems started drawing when he was in elementary school. His favorite characters were Charlie Brown and his dog, Snoopy ....

He adds that the best part about drawing for a living, as opposed to following another profession, is that kids of any age can do what he does, starting today.

"You can't be an astronaut right now," he told the group of kids at the library, most of whom were 6 and 7 years old. "You can't be a balloon salesman right now. But you can draw. And that's very cool."

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One thing that Willems says that is so very true is that you have to keep drawing to get the bad drawings out of your system. Sometimes a kid will ask how they can learn to draw and I tell them to get a six foot stack of typing paper and making a drawing on each. By the time you're at the bottom of the stack, you'll be better.

Although one can argue that Willems is not a cartoonist, he's a children's book writer -- I say that writing and drawing makes one a cartoonist. Besides, like all of us, he copied PEANUTS when he was a kid!

Hat tip to Dad!