Sometime in the early 2010s I read an article about an artist who turned down a lucrative job with Google designing “Doodles” for their homepage. Instead, he decided to pursue his dream of illustrating children’s books.
I remember thinking “Wow, that’s awesome, though I don’t know if I’d have the conviction to make that same decision.” I did hope it worked out for him. The article faded to the recesses of my brain.
Years later Dan Santat popped up on my Twitter feed, I dug his art and casually followed along with what he was doing. When my son was old enough to read children’s books to, Dan’s books found their way into our personal library. My son is a huge fan of The Three Ninja Pigs and I am particularly enamored with After The Fall.
Earlier this year, Dan released A First TIme For Everything, a graphic novel memoir about being an awkward middle-school student and a trip to Europe with his classmates that changed his life. I thought it was fantastic and apparently I’m not the only one. It just won The National Book Award. It’s only the second graphic novel to ever have won.
Something in the back of my mind clicked and made me think about that guy that turned down the job at Google to bet on himself. I looked into it and sure enough, it was Dan. He’s now a New York Times Best Selling Author. He’s the author/illustrator of over one hundred titles, including The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend which won the prestigious Caldecott Medal. Dan lives in Southern California with his wife, two kids, and various pets.
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on a second “Detective Duck” with Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver. I’m writing/illustrating a Marvel picture book called “Me, Hulk” I’ve signed on to do three more new Sidekicks graphic novels and writing/illustrating a 6 book graphic novel series with Macmillan called “Sashimi” I’ve also got 5 other picture books I’m illustrating with various authors
Why picture books and graphic novels? (What compels you to create in this medium?)
This is probably not the best answer for this question but I never considered myself a very good writer and I always felt like I had to rely on my artistic abilities to carry the appeal of the story. There’s always room to improve
What was the book or comic that you fell in love with when you were a kid/teen?
Calvin and Hobbes, AKIRA, and mostly Marvel stuff
You can find Dan and his work at:
Did you enjoy reading? Subscribe to The Kid’s Comics Creator newsletter and get articles like this directly in your inbox on the first and third Wednesday of the month.