{"id":181,"date":"2014-07-30T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T05:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wildthings.blaine.org\/?p=181"},"modified":"2014-07-28T09:57:49","modified_gmt":"2014-07-28T14:57:49","slug":"from-funky-buddha-parties-to-childrens-books-before-they-were-authors-and-illustrators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wildthings.blaine.org\/?p=181","title":{"rendered":"From Funky Buddha Parties to Children\u2019s Books: Before They Were Authors and Illustrators"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ask children\u2019s book authors and illustrators how they entered the field, and you tend to see themes in their responses. Usually, it\u2019s the \u2018ol tried-and-true \u201cI went to school, studied my butt off, and then sent off a stack of manuscripts to various publishers.\u201d If their talent and hard work is paid off with some luck, good timing, and an interested editor, they get published and celebrate heartily.<\/p>\n

But there are some stories that stand out. Who had the more unusual roads to publication? Who had the wacky day jobs? Our first draft of Wild Things!<\/em>\u00a0included a chapter on the beginnings (and endings) of children’s literature — that is, more unusual stories about the careers of those who made (or make) the books we love today. For instance, the man who became Dr. Seuss may be the most beloved name in all of children\u2019s literature with his world-famous rhyming tales, but prior to World War II and well before he became a children\u2019s lit icon, he had his own unusual beginning, stirring up trouble as a political cartoonist for PM<\/em>, a liberal New York City newspaper established in the early 1940s by New Yorker<\/em> managing editor Ralph Ingersoll. Seuss biographer Thomas Fensch describes Seuss\u2019s political cartoons at the declaration of war as \u201csurprisingly acidic.\u201d (For more on Geisel’s early career and All Things Geisel, you can also check out the work of Seuss scholar Philip Nel<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Only a few of these\u00a0stories made it to publication, but we thought it’d be fun to share some other favorites (not in the book) here. (Who knew gravedigging was A Thing in this field?)<\/p>\n

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Award-winning illustrator R. Gregory Christie<\/a> (pictured above) has, by far, the \u2026 shall we say funkiest\u00a0jump-start to his career? As a young artist, Christie started out\u00a0during what he calls the pre-Giuliani days, doing live paintings in night clubs after heading to Manhattan from a small colonial town in New Jersey.<\/p>\n

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Deciding to take full advantage of the city\u2019s night life and seeing the entire city as his campus, Christie found himself drawn to the clubs and their \u201ccavernous decors.\u201d His favorite club was Nell’s on 14th street. \u201cI was told that at its peak, it was famous for having a strict door policy that even denied celebrities entry. I could care less about ropes and doors but was more so allured by the shabby 19th century British parlor feel as an intimate supper club,\u201d said Christie. The club\u2019s second floor had live music and a stage. On the lower level, DJs spun records and \u201cpeople went to sweat. It was a small space but also classy, so the suits and the sneakers mixed together. The street kids and the Wall Street crowd made an interesting mix of ethnicities and social classes. It seems as though it was about the energy music and good times there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Christie started out as another face in the crowd, but he eventually introduced himself to the club manager and asked about the possibility of showcasing his art with the goal of meeting a patron. \u201cI figured that if one of these slick playboys or business women were open-minded\u00a0enough to hang in a club with such a diverse crowd that they\u2019d be open to appreciate my art and help me to build a career.\u201d Christie showed up with a projector, set it up above the bar, waited for the club to fill up, and then got right to work. People were interested in Christie\u2019s art, and he discovered it was a handy icebreaker, getting him \u201cfree drinks, phone numbers, sales and empty promises.\u201d<\/p>\n

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After Christie\u2019s first showing, he invited another artist friend to showcase his work, and the entire venture turned into a steady gig for Christie, his first real freelancing job, in which he would show the art of his colleagues on a weekly basis. His day-time job was as security at the Guggenheim Museum and, while working the coat check, Christie would put the museum patrons and even the director on the guest list for Nell\u2019s. \u201cThe best thing about a museum’s visitors is that it brings in all types of people and you never know who is who. When I came in to the club each week the promoters would tell me the people on my list were getting out of limousines and they really were shocked when the director of the Guggenheim reserved his name for a \u2018Funky Buddha party.\u2019 I played it off like I was some kind of jetsetter and those were old friends and fans of what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"400x400xJustice_System_RooftopSoundcheck.jpeg.pagespeed.ic._jC_o5UrSL\"<\/a>Before he was 30, Christie was sponsored for night-life paintings in Malaysia, London, Sydney, Sweden, and Amsterdam. Eventually, Christie was noticed by Justice System, an unsigned band at that time, during one of his gigs and was asked to do their album cover, should they ever get a record deal. When MCA records did sign them, Christie did the cover art, which later caught the eye of an editor named Liz Szabla at Lee & Low books (now Editor-in-Chief at Feiwel and Friends), who hired Christie to illustrate The Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children<\/em>. Since that time, Christie has been the multiple recipient of Coretta Scott King Honors for such books as Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, <\/em>written by Mary Williams,<\/strong> and Anne Rockwell\u2019s Only Passing Through: The Story of Sojourner Truth<\/em>, as well as a Theodore\u00a0Geisel Award Honor recipient\u00a0for his book with author Lisa Wheeler, Jazz Baby<\/em>. He’s the recipient of the the NAACP\u2019s Image Award, The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and the 2013 Ashley Bryan Illustrated Africana Children\u2019s Literature Award.<\/p>\n

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These days, he owns and runs GAS-ART GIFTS<\/a> (“Gregarious Art Statements”) in Georgia, because (and we love this) he wants to “make children’s books as sexy as the newest pair of sneakers” for children and teens. It’s a bookstore, art school, and art gallery all rolled into one. Here<\/a> is more information, not to mention this<\/a> great write-up. (Jules, for one, is itchin’ to road-trip it to Greg’s new space, since she lives not-too-far-away in Tennessee.)<\/p>\n

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\"11723336916_e7ba45f7d2_k\"<\/a>\u201cI\u00a0miss the days of a bottle of good red wine, amazing music and the energy of an audience behind me,” Greg added. “I used to dress up in an EMS uniform and splatter paint all over an eight-foot canvas. After a while, I smartened up and realized that the smaller the medium\u2019s support and the less the women and wine, the greater the likelihood of finishing your work that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are some of the other surprising and fun day jobs (or early jobs) of children’s literature:<\/p>\n