When the first Harry Potter movie was released to overwhelming success, everyone was anxiously anticipating the next installment. I believe it was around the time the second movie would be released when I was contracted by the now defunct Meredith Corporation to quickly create a maze activity for a proposed Harry Potter Magazine. Meredith published Better Homes & Gardens and Crayola Kids Magazine, the latter for whom I contributed many illustrated children's activities over the years, so it made sense that they asked me to design the game, even though I had never seen the movie.

My sketch was to be just one small part of a sales pitch to the Harry Potter people in charge of the franchise. I was given a rough description of what was needed and the basics of the staircase as it was seen in the movie. I think I knocked this rough draft out in a day and half. It was never meant to be a fully-working game, just a concept of what could be done. I FedEx'd the large two-page pencil sketch to the art director and waited.

When Meredith asked the Harry Potter people how much they would pay to have a magazine made of their franchise, they replied with something like..."Pay you? How much are you going to pay us?" The magazine was over before it ever began. It wasn't the first project I've worked on that never saw the light of day, and I'm sure won't be the last, but it would have been a fun magazine to work on. To quote Mr. Ollivander from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, “The wand chooses the wizard.”

Here's one from the vault that has always held a sentimental place in my heart - a full page spread that appeared in Sesame Street Magazine entitled S Family's Spring Day for Children's Television Workshop.

I had just begun work as a regular contributor to Crayola Kids Magazine and had a few jobs under my belt. Around this time, the magazine stands at bookstores and grocery stores were filled with kids magazines. With a pen in hand, I jotted down the names and addresses of the art directors from the magazines I liked.

Next, I did what every illustrator is told NOT to do. I went home, folded an 8.5" x 11" color photocopy of an activity page I had done for another magazine and stuffed it into a white envelope with nothing more than the addresses on the outside and my name on the inside. When doing promotional mailers, artists should, for the most part, always send postcards. Art directors don't want to waste time opening envelopes. Most of the time they never even look at your post cards!

One week later, I get a phone call from the art director at Sesame Street Magazine in New York City. I was expecting to be commissioned for a small spot illustration or some supporting art, not a full two-page spread. Not a bad return on investment for a stamp and envelope! My contract arrived with the most whimsical cover letter:

"Sesame Street Magazine is guaranteed to be a smash hit now that you've agreed to do an illustration for it!"

There were little to no changes to the art, but there were some changes to the content as the sketches evolved. Since it's an educational magazine, the games and activities are developed and reviewed long before they reach my desk. I received a very detailed list of what to include in the illustration and how the overall feel of the page should be presented. Beyond that, the characters and style were up to me. The art was hand-painted with airbrush and gouache on bristol board. At this time, I was transitioning into digital art, but still producing a fair number of illustrations in traditional mediums. It's cute little illustration, and I hope it made the kids happy.

Print magazines were having a digital revival in the '90s. Crayola Kids Magazine, published bi-monthly by Meredith Corporation, offered a variety of art styles, games and stories for young readers. It was my first foray into this type of publication and I absolutely loved it! Every couple months, I worked on anywhere from one to three activities, spot illustrations or promotional web items.

It was also my first step into the world of digital art. I remember the day I walked into the Crayola offices and saw all the drafting tables, drafting arms and markers being pulled out and replaced with computers. I was very young and out of school, but thought, "Uh, oh... this looks like trouble." I asked everyone I worked with, "Would you like it if I got a computer and started going digital?" Crayola said "YES!", Fisher-Price said, "YES!" I thought about it and then Bob Riley, the art director at Crayola Kids called.

My phone conversation with him went something like this, "You can do the art any way you want, as long as it looks good, but we'd prefer digital if you can do it, and we need it in one month." I said, "Sure! I can do it digitally." I hung up the phone and went out and bought a Macintosh Quadra 605 computer, Photoshop, Freehand and Adobe Streamline. I had one month to figure all this out.

I worked on the magazine for about five years, writing and illustrating games. Multiple computers and programs later, the illustrations were getting more complex. Some being built entirely in the computer. Many, still being hand-inked, scanned and added on from there. The ROW, ROW, ROW series as we referred to them, were some of my favorites. I became the "go-to-guy" for these, writing and illustrating about twelve in all. Here's one I always liked, 9 Shipmates In A Row.

Eventually, I began getting commissions from Sesame Street Magazine, Kid City, Scholastic, Better Homes & Gardens, and even Esquire to write and create children's magazine activities. It became the stepping stone for my future work with corporate promotional books and kids restaurant menus.