Q. So you show the artworks to the book company, then they show them to the author? A.They don't show them to the author until the book is finished. This book is by a woman named Nikki Grimes. I've seen Nikki Grimes, and she asked me where I was with the book. I said we've almost finished everything. She said, "That's funny, they told me they hadn't gotten anything yet." So they don't like to put the two together. They like to keep us in the dark.

Q. What kind of authors have you worked with? Who was your favorite? A.I'll say it like this. For the most part, I don't really work with authors. I would say the book company works as a middle man. The author sends something to them. If they like it, they'll send something to an illustrator. The second [book I did] is a remake of a story that's already been out, so they wanted to update it. I felt that some of the text was kind of a little old, so I said something to the book company, then the book company said something to her [the author], then she said something to the book company. And they said something to me. We sort of played telephone like that. It's confusing to have two bosses. So even if the author likes something, it has to run through the book company, 'cause they're putting up all the money. It also helps to avoid personality clashes. Like if I don't personally get along with the author, but I like the story, it saves that problem of I don't know, him calling me up at 2 o'clock in the morning saying "why did you draw it like that?"