About me

I write and illustrate picture books and animated films and I live in Los Angeles.

My next book, Aggie and the Ghost, will be released in 2025 from Simon & Schuster.

My first book, Pokko and the Drum, has been published in 17 languages. It was a Publisher’s Weekly and NPR Book of the Year and won a Boston Globe / Horn Book Honor and Charlotte Zolotow Honor.

My latest book, MINA, about a family of mice that gets a pet cat and it was a Marilyn Baillie Award winner and a Governor General’s Award finalist.

I was the Lead Designer on the animated show, Adventure Time and also the Oscar-nominated film, Robin Robin.

Contact

Email me at comingupforair@gmail.com

For book related enquiries, please contact my agent, Judy Hansen at hansenliterary@msn.com

Clients

Apple TV / Netflix / Cartoon Network / Aardman Animations / Nickelodeon / Simon & Schuster / Jim Henson Studios / Drawn & Quarterly / Koyama Press / Disney / Chronicle Books / Penguin - Random House / Warner Brothers

Books

MINA, 2022
POKKO and the DRUM, 2019

Selected Film & TV

Robin Robin (Aardman / Netflix), Production Designer
The Midnight Gospel (Netflix), Character Design
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, Lead Designer

Selected Awards & Honours

2023 Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award
2022 Governor General’s Award Finalist
2022 Oscar Nominee (Best Animated Short)
2022 Society of Illustrators Art Show
2022 QWF Prize for Young Literature
2022 Barnes & Noble Award Shortlist
2020 Horn Book Honour
2020 Charlotte Zolotow Honour for Writing
2020 Sheila Barry Best Canadian Picture Book of the Year Honour
2019 Publishers Weekly Book of the Year
2019 NPR Favourite Book of the Year
2019 Amazon Book of the Year
2019 Green Earth Book Award
2019, 2020 Quebec Bookstore Prize Shortlist
2019 Society of Illustrators Book Illustration
2018 Bull Bransom National Wildlife Art Award
2017 Top 100 Books Globe & Mail
2017 Ontario Library Association Top Ten
2016 Wanda Gag Award
2015 Emmy Award Honour (Adventure Time)
2013 E.B. White Read Aloud Award
2012 Canadian Library Assn Award
2011 New York Times Notable Picture Book
2008 Quill & Quire Book of the Year
2008 Doug Wright Award for Cartooning
2004, 2005 Eisner Award Nominee

Selected Exhibitions

2022 Solo Exhibition, Nucleus Gallery, LA
2019 Solo Exhibition, Treviso, Italy
2019 Solo Exhibition, Nucleus Gallery, LA
2018 Solo Exhibition, Kofu, Japan
2018 Solo Exhibition, Nucleus Gallery, LA

Teaching & Workshops

2022 FabCafe Book-making workshop, Tokyo
2022 Picture Book Workshop, Gallery Nucleus, LA
2021 Lecturer, Character Design for Animation, VIA University, Denmark
2021 Picture Book Making Workshop, Krumulus Bookstore, Berlin
2021 Picture Book Making Workshop, Kassel, Germany
2020 Writing Workshop - Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators - Hawaii
2019 Picture Book Writing Workshop, Gallery Nucleus, LA
2019 Lecturer, Character Design, VIA University, Denmark
2018 Artist in Residence, Kofu, Japan
2017 Lecturer, Character Design, VIA University, Denmark
2017 Mordecai Richler Writer in Residence, Concordia University
2017 Lecturer, Creative Writing, Concordia University
2016 Lecturer, Character Design, VIA University, Denmark
2014 Speaker, Royal College of Art, Leeds