Panda in a Sweater

Occasional Plum #1

A domestic tiff (with complications) from Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best found in the short story collection, Blandings Castle by the incomparable P.G. Wodehouse. I'd say it's one of his funniest short stories but they're all funny, really.

The Occasional Plum

You shall find Mr. Wooster... an exceedingly pleasant and amiable young gentleman, but not intelligent. By no means intelligent. Mentally he is negligible — quite negligible.

(The Inimitable Jeeves)

Since I find myself (for the first time in years) not actively drawing a book at the moment, I thought I should concoct a little sketch challenge for myself. I'm going to start a series of drawings, paintings, and doodles inspired by the works of my favorite author, P.G. Wodehouse. I know I won't be able to follow a set schedule (for that, check out Bully's fantastically entertaining Wodehouse-A-Week posts), so I'm calling this series The Occasional Plum.

First up is of course Jeeves & Bertie. I'm not entirely satisfied with Jeeves here, but I reserve the right to re-examine, re-design, and re-draw these characters to my heart's delight.

I've thought about doing this Wodehouse project for years, but so far had only managed two entries. Let's hope I'll be able to stick with it this time. Right ho!

Hula hoopin'

Here's What Cooks

(two pages from Around the World dry in the late day sun)

Well, my next graphic novel Around the World is in the supremely capable hands of the design geniuses at Candlewick and it looks all set for its fall release date (actual date forthcoming). It will also coincide with the publication of the paperback edition of The Storm in the Barn which I've just learned will in fact be in color. Yay! I'll be out and about promoting Around the World this spring (TLA in Austin, BookExpo in NYC) and fall (bookstores, book festivals, and whoever will have me).

In March, keep an eye out for my latest picture book, I'll Be There by the wonderful Ann Stott. This one is a companion to Always and posed some very interesting challenges. More on that book soon.

At the moment, I'm hard at work writing the script for my third graphic novel. Again, I'll post more on that project as it progresses but I will say that it deals with summer days, vaudeville, and the young Buster Keaton. It has been a blast to research. So far, the writing hasn't been too torturous either. Here's the big board in the studio with the current project taking up a lot of space:

I'm also planning a new sketch project for this little ol' sometimes neglected blog. More on that soonest.