Lewis and Clark in "The Bottle of Thunder" Part 1

Snappy title page, eh? My favorite since the Pinniped Party title page.

I'm sure some of you students of history out there know where this story is going, but don't spoil it. This has a funny twist ending like the isopod story. And, like the tongue eating isopod, the facts in this story are true.

Introducing the History Sack

Weekend Dino-Holiday Sale

Book on sale! BOOK ON SALE!

[UPDATE: Wow! That was quick, the sale is over. Now they have it at $14. Thanks to everyone who ordered a copy. You put the Dinos into Amazon's top 100 Holiday titles for the weekend!]

Amazon has my book, "The Dinosaurs' Night Before Christmas," at a summer discount of over 52% right now. I know Christmas is a long way off, but you can get the book (Hardcover, 48 fully illustrated pages, a CD full of Dinosaur-themed Christmas tunes and audio version of the book narrated by Al Roker) for $9 right now. It usually sells for $18.99.

Get a copy and put it in the closet for four months. Or get two copies and put them in the closet for eight months. Get three copies...

Anyway, Deck the halls with Stegosaurus--on the cheap!

Box of Drawings 5/5

I only did three original drawings for the "Monster of the Month" project, so I had to do a new one for friday. I hope you've enjoyed them all.

We've maxed out the month's fantasy quota here at the station. So next week starts an all new, history based story. Have a good weekend.

Box of Drawings 4/5

Here's one everybody will know, the Vermicious Knids from Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. When I was a kid, I always liked that second book a little more than the Chocolate Factory. It was probably because of the Knids. Remember when they all spelled out "S-C-R-A-M?"

What a great monster.

Box of Drawings 3/5

Here's another monster...well, creature anyway. This one's from Cornelia Funke's book DRAGON RIDER. I thought I'd showcase some lesser known characters, I didn't want to jump in with Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, I wanted to show that there were TONS of creatures out there in the library to draw from.

Hey, guess what went up for pre-order yesterday...take a look.

Box of Drawings 2/5

A few years ago, I pitched a "Monster of the Month" feature to a children's magazine. Each month, we'd dedicate one page to a creature, animal or monster from a popular children's novel. There would be details, diagrams and characteristics, as if the animal were a real part of natural history. This one was GARUDA, the talking bird from Lloyd Alexander's THE IRON RING. Anybody read that one? (Click the image to read the fine print.)

Anyway, it didn't fly. Getting a story published in a magazine is pretty challenging--getting a monthly feature in a magazine is practically impossible. I did a bunch of sample pages, which you'll be seeing this week. It went back and forth with the editors and the art director (he really liked the idea.) But it ended up in the 'ol Unpublished Box. Up until now, they've never been seen in public.

So if any magazine editors are lurking out there, how about it? "Monster of the Month." Pretty cool right?

Box of Drawings 1/5

Yellowbelly Time part 10/10

Well, I think that went pretty well. Yellowbelly's show will be a returning feature--in fact, I've already got a couple of surprise guests lined up. Yellowbelly's show is a little more time consuming than my regular stories, so it'll only pop up every few months. It'll be a special feature.

I'd like to thank Shannon for being the test subject for this first episode, and everyone who linked to the blog for the interview. To anyone who found us through this interview, welcome to the Station! Stick around, I'll be back next week with an all new story.

Have a good weekend! Watch out for wasps--I got stung by wasps today, mean little suckers.

Yellowbelly Time part 9/10

[UPDATE] Uh-oh! Now I've done it, I went back and reworked YB's face on this panel. I didn't like the way it looked, mouth too big, eyes too low. I swapped in some new artwork, this is a slippery slope--these are supposed to be quick and sloppy....

Yellowbelly Time part 8/10

I just took part in the three year celebration of the "Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty" blog, a site run by a cool illustrator dad, Aaron Zenz, and his three kids. (In fact, they did some cool fan art for Rapunzel that I posted on this site a while back.) Anyway, a bunch of illustrators were invited to re-interpret some of the kids' drawings. Take a look, there's some really fun stuff! Mine's the smiling lemon.

Yellowbelly Time part 7/10

Yellowbelly Time part 6/10

I would read the heck out of a Shannon Hale Space Jam novel. It could work. Has anyone written a novel from the point of view of Bugs Bunny? That could be very interesting.

Also, I did go see PONYO! It was great! I loved it!

Yellowbelly Time part 5/10

I hope you're all enjoying the interview, there's a lot more to come next week.

It's a big weekend for Miyazaki fans--PONYO opens in US theaters today! I can't wait to see it, Miyazaki is my absolute hero! And it's really fun to see his movies in an actual theater. Only his last three have had US theatrical releases, PRINCESS MONONOKE (had to drive an hour to find a theater playing it, back in '98) SPIRITED AWAY (maybe my favorite--they're all my favorite) and HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. So go see PONYO, it'll probably only be in theaters a week or two!

Yellowbelly Time part 4/10

In case you are wondering, this really is Shannon Hale. Her responses to YB's questions are her real words. I only pretend to be Shannon when making crank calls.

Yellowbelly Time part 3/10

Tune in tomorrow for the start of the Yellowbelly/Shannon Hale interview!

Thanks to everyone who came to the Authorpalooza yesterday night. I handed out a carload of Rapunzel posters and got to meet some of the star commenters on the site! Big fun!

Yellowbelly Time part 2/10

Tonight at Barnes and Noble in Orem, UT, 7-10 Authorpalooza. Be there!

Yellowbelly Time part 1/10

Let's get into it! The Yellowbelly show is on, ten episodes, so it'll be a two-weeker!

I'm doing a book signing this week, Tuesday night at the Barnes and Noble in Orem, UT, from 7-10 pm. It is an "Authorpalooza" featuring several Utah authors. Mention the webcomic and receive a free Chuck the Lazy Isopod Paper Toy. (Of course, if you follow the webcomic, you already have a Chuck the Lazy Isopod Paper Toy--so make that a RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE poster.)

It's YELLOWBELLY! He's here! He's really HERE!

Put Your Hands Together

Boy, that Little Shaver does a nice job, I can see why it got hired. Yes folks, Yellowbelly has entered the building.

Spotlight's on!

A Comfy Chair and an Interview Desk

The Snickering Shaver

Yikes! What a goofy drawing! I swear I didn't use any photo reference, I dare you to find evidence to the contrary.

Don't worry gang, I won't be drawing myself in a non-cartoon style very often, I'm as upset by it as you are. Let's go back to that circle-headed, Charlie Brown-like avatar.