Three Times A Charm with K. Michael Crawford
Three Times a Charm is a weekly feature that spotlights
authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the
publishing industry.
Happy Halloween, everyone! This week writer and
illustrator, K. Michael Crawford joins us. Michael, thank you so much for
coming! I love hosting illustrators. Can you tell us about you?
Once Upon a Magical Life
Once upon a time… How fun those words are to me, because
with those four words anything and everything is possible. Those four words,
even though they are used less today, still hold true with today’s stories and
books. One moment you’re just your average Joe eating your oatmeal and the
next, the whole world is there to explore just by opening a book. What
adventures a child can have just by going on one magical journey through
someone else’s words.
Once upon a time… I pretty much
have and had a normal life. Well, maybe not. I don’t know too many people who
got to be in a Walt Disney parade and hold a human brain. No, not at the same
time, that would be a Tim Burton film. My life includes a cast of characters of
family, Pirates, friends, cows, dragons, dogs, rabbits, and fairies who I grew
up with on a daily basis. Yes, in my world fairies and dragons do exist. I am
the first one to clap my hands to bring Tinkerbell back to life.
Once upon a time… What made my life
not so normal was that fact that I had no problem using my imagination. One
minute, I could be a pirate looting for treasure and the next, a rock star.
Never mind the fact, I couldn’t sing worth a hoot and a holler. I would grab
that make-believe microphone and belt out the song as if there was no tomorrow.
Never mind the fact, the real music was blaring in the background and would
cover up any sour note coming out of my mouth.
Once upon a time… So with that kind
of passion and imagination it only seemed right that I went in the business of
Children’s Book Writing and Illustrating. It’s the one job that let’s me use
all my quirky talents (silliness, finding the humor in everything, being weird)
and retain my ability to stay five years old forever. Besides, the only other
great job for me would be to rule England and Queen Elizabeth already said
“No.” Believe me, I asked. But you never know and I haven’t given up that dream
just yet.
Once upon a time… Everyday, I grab
a hold of my imagination and pencil to see what adventures I will have in my
whimsical world. There is no telling where I will go, because with imagination
everything is possible.
Once upon a time, there was a
writer and an illustrator who wished for a magical life of writing and
illustrating children’s books and got to live Happily Ever Art.
The End!
Tell us about your most recent projects.
In 2006, I noticed that children were not using their
imaginations, so I created The Mystery of Journeys Crowne in the Bazel Lark
Series, where the reader has to use their imagination, learn to figure out
clues and make choices in order to know what to draw on the page. There is also a mystery the reader has to
figure out in each book that hopefully they will give them a little piece of
the magic I am trying to create with my work.
Since the creation of The Mystery
of Journeys Crowne book, five books have followed with more to come, in the
pursuit of getting kids to use their imagination. In Batty Malgoony’s Mystic
Carnivale, the reader must draw in all the carnivale characters. The Island of
Zadu is the second book in the Bazel Lark Series where again the reader has to
answer clues to know what to draw on the page. In Professor Horton Hogwash’s
Museum of Ridiculous, the reader has to draw in the museum collection, or not,
after all it is the Museum of Riduculous. They can draw in anything they want
as long as the reader is using their imagination. One Whimsical Zoofari is a
clue/activity coloring book for 4 to 7 year olds. In 2013, the third book in
the Bazel Lark Series will be hitting the market and How to create your own
Comic Book (Includes a workbook and videos that show step-by-step how to create
your own comic book).
Now, for the Threes. Share with us your top 3’s to help
us know you a little better.
- Top 3 tools of the trade you couldn’t live without.
I couldn’t live with out my imagination or drawing. When I
can’t use my imagination and draw every day, I have been told that I get a
little cranky to put it mildly. My imagination tool is so important to who I am
and how I see the world that not to use it as much as I can seems silly to me
and makes me a little grumpy if I can’t use it.
The computer has been a great asset to my job and has made
my job easier to get my art and books out to the world. Believe me when I say
that the computer can also be a hindrance, since there are monsters in my
computer that do everything in their power to mess up what I have created or
produced, which helps me to keep in mind that it is only a tool and monsters
only live under my bed. Some days it’s a great tool, some days not so much.
The last tool I can’t give up or I will be arrested for
drawing on everything and anything is my sketchbook and pencil. (If you ever
hear that I was arrested for graffiti, please bring me paper and pencil to the
jail.) For me the two go together and I feel like I have magical pencils. The
most amazing things come out of it when I put the pencil to paper. I have come
to realize that anytime someone puts pencil to paper the most amazing things
are created. Countries are formed, works of art are developed, ideas come to
life and inventions become real. There are not too many other tools in this
world that can claim the fame of these two small objects.
- Top 3 personal and/or professional goals.
It’s not so much a career or work
for me, because when you are an artist there is no separation between the two,
personal and business life. I go on a trip and the first thing I do is to think
how I can incorporated what I just saw into my work. So all my goals benefit
both. I have had these goals for a long time and still working on making them
happen.
- One
of my characters in the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade and I am sitting in
the seat section waving as my quirky character floats by.
- Create
as many magical books as I can. (I am pretty much making that goal happen.)
- Develop the Start Trek beam me up system so that I can travel as much as I want and get there in the blink of an eye. No more sticking me in a tin can with a bunch of other people I don’t know for hours on end. “Oh look, after seventeen hours in the air and they finally turned off the seatbelt sign!”
- Top 3 professions you wanted to be when you grew up.
You might think I am kidding about this, but I am not. The
three top professions I wanted to be and do when I was growing up were more
about being certain people and the magic they created with their work.
I wanted to be Leonard de Vinci,
because of all the cool stuff he invented in his lifetime. It’s just amazing at
all the things he created just by looking at something and seeing all the
possibilities of the object. Where it could go and what could be made out of
it. In my spare time, I am always creating and building usual things. I have always
had this need to challenge myself to see what I was capable of creating, so
when I am not creating books, I build all kinds of things. I have a studio
filled with strange creations; turtle checkers, gourd birds, and pandas
floating in 3-D boats. I would have love to have had Leonard for dinner, so we
could chat about his work.
The next person was Walt Disney and
all the magic things he created for the world. He was one of the people in my
world who taught me to see the magic and learn how to create it. I always
wonder if you could learn how to create magical things or were you just born
with it. I am still learning how to create magic in my work. I do have days
where no matter what I do, the work need to be put to rest in the trash.
Last, but not least, I wanted to be
the next Dr. Seuss. I use to walk around my house at the age of twelve and say
I am going to be the next Dr. Seuss. The quirky characters and the silly words
he made up. I thought that it would be so cool to live in a house with a mouse
eating green eggs and ham with Sam I am. Life doesn’t get any better than that.
I got so close to meeting the great and wonderful wizard, Dr. Seuss, through
his best and long time pal, Maurice Noble, but it wasn’t meant to be. Every
quirky and silly character I create is a tribute to Dr. Seuss and his
silliness.
Where can our readers learn more about your writing and
your art?
My website: www.happilyeverart.com,
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/happilyeverart
and http://www.facebook.com/pages/K-Michael-Crawford/131899631023?ref=hl
Twitter: https://twitter.com/happilyeverart
Thanks, Michael, for talking with us on Three Times A
Charm. It has been so much fun getting to know you better.
I am always looking for
guests for Three Times A Charm. If you are an author, illustrator or book
reviewer, an agent or an editor. If you have a book, a blog or a business
related to children’s publishing that you’d like people to know about, feel
free to contact me about a future appearance.
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