LIFE is 10 years old...

Speaking of old films, my last personal film was produced a decade ago (although it should probably be called a personnel film as it used 30+ NYC animators), produced while making the pilot for Sheep in the Big City. The deal was I gave each animator pal two drawings; first the beastie to be eaten, next the beastie to do the eating. Then, I let 'em rip.

It was great fun being an animator in the 90's...

Enjoy:


Life

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Animation | The Classics

Another Bad Day For Philip Jenkins...

Is 15 years old this, uh, year. Not quite sure when I started on this one, but I think it was the fall.

This short was animated back when cartoons had to be shot on film and inked and painted by hand, I wrote and drew this short just as I was about to start making cartoons for Sesame Street. (Sorry for the ad before the film).


Another Bad Day for Philip Jenkins

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Animation | Cartoon Carnage

September Schedule Updated!

Click here to check out this month's schedule of appearances in NYC, BKLYN, CT, and Washington, DC!

Drop by and say, "Hi"!

Beach Doodle

(And some recent press mentions and mini-reviews here, here, here, and here.)

THANKS DEMCO and ALA!

So, look what I found on the porch of the Mo Willems Studio: a big old box filled with one gigantic peach Library Cart from the folks at the American Library Association and Demco !

For those of you not in the know of my and pal Jon Scieszka's Emcee history, here's the back-story and a video about the gigs. I tend to tell all the competitors they are my favorite... because they are.

Little know fact: You can fit your wife, kid, and dog on one of these things!

The cart is so cool, I thought I'd give it a go with my own competitive library drill carting:



Huzzah!

FYI: Jon's cart says, "You are my 2nd favorite Emcee"...

How long does it take...?

...to make a book?

That's a common (and tough question), and the answer varies greatly. If you discount all the years spent drawing and writing and living and practicing and getting rejected and drawing some more and all the previous books and animation and television and sketch work, well, then anywhere from half a year to 15 years.

I've just finished the initial stage of production on the final Knuffle Bunny book (no spoilers yet), a project I started writing in 2005. I held off production at the time because my agent and I thought the story for Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity would make a better follow up to the original Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale. As the current story puts a definitive end to the saga (I'm looking at YOU Professor Moriarty), we'd thought we'd wait.

I started taking photographs for the book in April 2008. Seeing as the story involves some exotic locales, I also had to make some trips abroad (I thought I wasn't giving any spoilers. Hmm...) Because the Knuffle Bunny books are alot like film shoots and require lengthy negotiations with various people/corporations to secure locations and rights (I spent over 16 months trying to get one key location), I wasn't able to take the final photographs until this June.

Then there were the layouts, manuscripts, discussions/approvals from my editor.

Then... I was able to get started on the actual production of laying out the photos, making the rough sketches, doing the final inks, dealing with shadows and other digital collage, cleaning up the photographs, re-writing, etc...

This is what it looked like [click to enlarge]:


Yup, everytime I finish a step I reward myself with getting to fill in a little box (I've posted about my production flow charts before). You'll note I started before my final photo-shoot in June because, well, I had to in order to stay on schedule.

This week I handed the whole thing in. Now all that's left is revisions, rewrites, a few new drawings, printing, publishing marketing stuff and in about a year the book will be on the shelves (Just in time to coincide with the touring production of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical).

That is if we come up with a title....

Double Digit Thanks...

...to you Elephant and Piggie's Elephants Cannot Dance! makes it to its 10th week on the New York Times Bestseller list at #9! Awesome! Don't forget there's a new Elephant and Piggie book ready for release in 6 weeks or so....

so ya wanna make a cartoon?

The old mailbag this week had a brand-spanking new copy of pal David Levy's new book Animation Development, a tome aimed at animators and cartoonists interested in getting their own series. David is a teacher, animator, director, and the President of NYC's society of animators, so he knows his stuff. Consequently, the book is chocked full with info and insights from TV animation creators like pals Jackson Public, Mr. Warburton, Craig McCracken, and execs like the great Linda Simensky (an old pal and sitar player in my spoof 90's beatnik band...) You can even get bits of flotsam from me about my TV days. Check it out and either you'll be really inspired, or really depressed. Either way, you'll be getting the real deal.

Hits the shelves in September.


Speaking of animation, my most recent animated collaborations with Weston Woods studios have garnered 3 starred reviews from School Library Journal. Check out the nice things they say about the animated Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! ["Pigeon and Willems will enchant viewers."] and Knuffle Bunny Too and the documentary Getting to Know Mo Willems ["This delightful production, full of energy and fun, will resonate with viewers" and they "enjoy Willems's quirky sense of humor and joie de vivre."](scroll down a bit for those)

Huzzah!

Don't Let the Pigeon... Fly the Pain!

While cleaning up the studio (I just finished a project) I noticed my 'fan mail favorites' file was getting too big, so while I'm off visiting some pals and hanging out with the kids, here's a slew of cool fan mail:

We'll start with The Pigeon:


















Then there's the Pigeon with all his pals (I love seeing everybody hanging out together!):


















This is my favorite drawing of Edwina the Dinosaur ever:


YES! THANKS! FOR! THE! NOTE!!!!!:








Knuffle Bunny's bodyguard:
And finally a great book starring the Duckling:










I love it too!

Why not drop a note to:

Mo Willems Fan Mail
c/0 Jennifer Crowell
Hyperion Books for Children and Pigeons
114 5th Ave 14th fl.
New York, NY 10011

Please be patient, it takes a long time for mail to be forwarded!

Pete List is cool...

In addition to doing rockin' animation for me over the years like this and this and this...

Pete does this when he goes to Egypt:





Dude!

Pete's currently animating The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog! for release next year.

Pigeon Collage!

The kids at Riverside Elementary in Dublin, OH, were sad that The Pigeon had to live in a world without backgrounds, so they made some for him!











Awesome!

Oh, and thanks to you Elephant and Piggie's Elephants Cannot Dance! is still on the NYTimes Bestseller list! Week 9, #7. Wowie. Thanks, you.

Like Son, Like Father...

Turns out I'm not the only author in the Willems clan. My father, the potter Casey Willems, has just published a YA/chapter book volume entitled On the Run about a young boy in WWII Holland. The boy's experiences are much like my father's, with the exception that this boy rescues an American pilot from behind Nazi lines to freedom!



If you're in New Orleans tomorrow, you can hear him discuss the book and his own wartime experiences at the World War II Museum at 1pm.

Pigs Make Me Sneeze! (sneak peek.2)

The old mailbag had an exciting surprise in it yesterday, my very own preview copy of Elephant and Piggie's newest adventure, Pigs Make Me Sneeze! Talk about timing, the book will be out in the fall (early October)...

I'll be reading from this adventure in my upcoming appearances and school/library simulcast. I'm eager to see if the kids dig it.

Here's a preview from my copy:




Choo!

Pick up your copy at your local bookshop or library, or if you're really excited pre-order it.

Oh, and an old pal reminisces about college comedy days and another old pal is going to join team Knuffle...