Four Daughters

Hello my Blog Friends.

I’ve already mentioned this on the vast Tomb Tome of Visages, and it’s on Anna’s blog as well, but just for posterity I wanted to post here the picture of the newest member of the Hatke Pack, Ronia Francesca:



(Also I’m just a wee bit proud of the composition of this picture, though I’m nothing approaching a skilled photographer). This brings the Hatke Pack up to four daughters. I’m overrun! Outnumbered! Outclassed and outmatched! What will I do?

I don't know. Probably I'll have more fun.

In the meantime, here’s a link to a fun thing I did recently. It was for a newsletter called BookPage and instead of an interview they sent me a list of questions and asked me to draw and handwrite the answers. It was a fun idea and yet another chance for me to fill up a page with little robots and creatures.

And now, I’m off to clean the house, care for all my girls, and start repairing our chicken coop which was damaged in last weeks high winds.

Two Little Gems

First this illustration from The Ballad of the White Horse:



"One dim ancestral jewel hung
On his ruined armour grey
He rent it and cast it at her feet
Where, after centuries, with slow feet,
Men came from hall and school and street
And found it where it lay."

the second little “gem” is this animated adaptation of Shaun Tan’s “The Lost Thing.” It’s beautifully done, sad and lovely and well worth a watch. Take a look. (and thanks Dan for passing it along!)

Finally here’s a link to a recent interview I did for The Graphic Novel Reporter. It’s not long, but I do mention Elfquest and Tin Whistles and how I keep getting in trouble at museums.

Huzzah for Independant Bookstores!

Yesterday the Hatke Family went to Politics and Prose where I had my very first book signing. (Anna did a nice little write-up about it on her blog).

I’ve heard that Politics and Prose is one of the best bookstores in the country and after my visit there I believe it. The truth is, though, that even though I’ve been talking to and entertaining kids for years I was still terribly nervous beforehand. And my heart sank when I saw them setting up a projector and I realized that I hadn’t thought to bring my computer (you can project graphic novel pages up on a screen and do a pretty cool live reading). One of the reasons I was nervous is that the week before I had been listening to author interviews on the Barnes and Noble website and all the authors seemed to have a horror story about their first signing.

But we set up a big drawing pad and the moment I was up in front of the kids (a wonderfully modest-sized group), talking and drawing, I felt great and everything went splendidly. Another cartoonist, David Hagen, even happened by chance to wander in and stayed for my talk about the "Three Secrets of Comics."

Afterward we had a little Hatke Family Homeschool Field Trip to the National portrait gallery. Definitely an artistic gem in Washington DC.

Oh, and tomorrow I will be signing at the Main Street Book Company in Front Royal from 1pm to 3pm.

Also, I made a comic about the day (you can click the images for a larger version):





Enjoy the weekend!

Two Helpings of Grateful

Happy Friday my Bloggy Friends!

I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has blogged, reposted, facebooked, tweeted, used the arcane practice of speaking, or otherwise spread the word about my little Graphic Novel these past few weeks. Really it makes such a difference and I thank you all.

Word-of-mouth seems to be an intensely important ingredient in a books journey into the hands of readers. When someone spreads the word about a book they like, especially a little-known book from a relatively unknown author, it increases the likelihood that more books like it will appear in the world.

Here are links to just a couple blog reviews that I found lately:

-From a ten-year-old named ben who blogs about books.

-from a blog called Charlottes Library.

-From Wired.com's Geek Dad blog.

And now, the Travels: I will be doing a local signing at Main Street Books in Front Royal next Saturday, February 19th. And on Thursday the 17th, from 10am to 1pm I will be talking comics and signing at Politics and Prose in DC. I'll be doing more in April, and I'll try to post those dates soon.

The Craziest Story

Going through old files today I came upon this old story. It's one of the silliest things i've ever written. Maybe you'll like it!

Dragon and Muffin Roast a Turkey

Dragon and Muffin were preparing for dinner.

Dragon rinsed the turkey and rubbed it with salt and spices.

"The flesh of this turkey will be savory and delicious," said Dragon.

"Like me!" said muffin.

Next dragon got a big bowl from his cupboard and began mixing the ingredients for stuffing. He cut up oranges, lemons, apples and onions and put them in the bowl. He added cranberries and raisins to the bowl. He also threw in a dash of cloves.

"this stuffing will not stick together" said dragon. "It is missing something."

Dragon thought hard.

Muffin thought hard too.

"Breadcrumbs!" said Dragon.

"Yes!" Said Muffin. (breadcrumbs was what he was going to say).

Dragon looked in the bread box, but it was empty. He looked in the cupboard too, but he didn't find any breadcrumbs. "this stuffing will not be savory or delicious without breadcrumbs," said dragon, and he shed a tear.

Muffin wanted to be helpful. "I am made of breadcrumbs," he said.

Dragon mixed his friend into the bowl and it gave the stuffing a wonderful consistency. He roasted the turkey until the delightful small of it filled his kitchen and then he sat down for a quiet dinner.

As he ate he remembered good times with his friends.

More Ballad

Hey Bloggerinos! Here is another picture from Chesterton’s Ballad of the White Horse. This is from the very beginning of book three, The Harp of Alfred (click the image for slightly larger):



And here’s a detail:



Also this week I noticed that someone had found and blogged about some years-old images I did for a folk/fairy tale called Cap O’ Rushes. Oh the things that lurk on the internet... This little picture book project never quite got off the ground but it sure would have been fun...

Finally, here’s a link to a short interview I did for Kirkus. It was a phone interview, so I sound... hmm.

Happy Weekending!

Book Brahmin? Yes Please.

Release day was very nice! A quiet affair with my lovely little girls and Anna made cupcakes because, you know, any excuse for cupcakes...



I'm really just popping in today to note that I answered some author-questions in comics form for the online publishing newsletter called Shelf Awareness. The comic even gave me an excuse to draw myself giving high fives to some of my favorite authors! (image above, left to right: me, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis and Neil Gaiman).

You can see the whole thing here.

Little Song and Dance Number

Lyrics by Julia, sung roughly to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot."


Oh, and today is the day that Zita the Spacegirl is officially released. Hooray! I wrote this funny little article for the Macmillan blog about making comics while surrounded on all sides by your kids. You can read it here.

Happy Tuesday!