Working with P.J. Funnybunny

A new P.J. Funnybunny book was released, last month. P.J. Funnybunny stories are written by my good friend, Marilyn Sadler. The book's characters were originally created by Roger Bollen. The P.J. Funnybunny books are adored by fans around the globe.

I first met Marilyn and Roger, in 1989. I was getting started as a children's book illustrator and they had been very successful in publishing with several of their characters, including P.J. Funnybunny. Roger was also a popular comic strip artist with his syndicated Animal Crackers strip.

I have always tried to learn from the best, so I arranged a trip to their home. With portfolio in hand, I traveled to Cleveland and spent an afternoon with Marilyn and Roger, hoping some of their success would rub off on me. It was a great trip and they were extremely kind and generous with their time. Roger mentioned that he was thinking of stepping back from his strip, Animal Crackers, to focus on other projects. He asked if I had an interest in possibly helping with the strip. I was stunned. I had not anticipated such a huge opportunity and wasn't sure what to say. I was just starting my children's book journey and realized that a commitment to a comic strip would be very time consuming so I humbly declined.

 In recent years, I've had the chance to work with Marilyn on some of her other projects. Roger Bollen died in 2015.

Fast forward to the present. Marilyn mentioned that her publisher was interested in producing more P.J. Funnybuny books because of a renewed interest in the characters. I asked if I could submit samples and be considered for the project. Even though cartooning wasn't what I had been currently doing, I have a long history of cartooning, starting from the very beginning when I was a kid. My cartoon style is very similar to what Roger was doing so it wasn't a long stretch to consider the project. I created some samples and sent them to Marilyn. I tried to be as true to Roger's style as I could. The character of his line and the colors that he chose. All the while, thinking of the Animal Crackers opportunity that had come and gone, years ago.

When Marilyn and the publisher seemed very pleased with my art samples, I felt like I had come pretty close to the spirit of Roger's work. In an unexpected way, it almost seemed like I had come full circle to help Roger, not with Animal Crackers, but with P.J. Funnybunny.

P.J. is a great character and I’m thrilled to be working with Marilyn Sadler to bring new stories of P.J. Funnybunny to his many young reader fans.

BOOKS, STORIES, ILLUSTRATION AND FUN AT LIBERTY BENTON ELEMENTARY.

School visits are one of the best parts of being a children’s book illustrator. I share my books, art and story with my young reader friends. A recent visit to Liberty Benton Elementary School was TOADALLY awesome! Many thanks to the staff and students who made our day a great celebration of children’s books, story illustration and drawing.

An exciting day of learning, laughing and looking at picture book illustration. Lot’s of questions, too.

Introducing LITTLE WHISTLE.

We take it, step-by-step and create some very funny characters. The room was full of artists!

A pencil and some paper… let’s DRAW!!!

These young students catch on, very quickly. Drawing is FUN!

Sharing some original art from my picture books and answering questions. Liberty Benton students ROCK!

Thank you, Josh Cottrell, for the school presentation pics.

Lunch was enjoyed with the teachers and table-top drawings by LB students. Art is everywhere! There must be a great art teacher in this school.

Well done, Liberty Benton. Your friend, Tim Bowers.

Choosing the right TOADS.

Developing characters for a story can take many twists and turns before finding candidates that seem just right. I’ve been working on two toads for a few years and they’ve gone through an evolution to become who they are in my newest book, Backroads, Country Toads.

From early character studies, where the names were Chet and Roy to later sketches, where they became Hank and Buckeroo, the two TOADS were heading for their future debut, published by Sleeping Bear Press.

Here is a peek at the making of two toad-ally awesome characters from that story.

First Country Toads… a long way to go.

Very early “Chet and Roy”, Country Toads.

The Toads get dressed and they seem much happier…still evolving.

The Toads take on a NEW look…getting closer.

When I started playing around with two toad characters, I imagined that they were country toads, pickin’ and grinnin’, fishing and living the country life. I grew up with my Dad’s Buck Owens and the Buckeroos music on the record player. I had a Hank Williams guitar song book and a brand new Gibson J-45 guitar that I received for Christmas so these toads were coming from a special place in my childhood.

Sketches for interior of Backroads, Country Toads. This was the first book where I created all the artwork on my computer…TOAD-ALLY DIGITAL!

The final images for this interior spread.

I saw them as a duo, a couple of best buddies sharing some good times that didn’t always go as planned. I even had a few ideas for stories but they turned out to be better ideas, than stories. So, I reached out to someone who could give the toads some good stories. Someone who would share that country vibe and add the humor that these two toads needed to land on the pages of a picture book.

The guy who came to mind was Devin Scillian. He has a great sense of humor and is an excellent story teller. He’s a pro with words and even writes country music songs, that he performs with his guitar. It doesn’t get any better than that. Perfect! We talked about the toads and the chance to work together to bring them to life. Devin and I have worked on several books, including Memoirs of a Goldfish, Memoirs of a Hamster and our newest collaboration, Memoirs of a Tortoise (coming in 2020). He came up with the fly fishing story and as usual, hit the ball out of the park! Just what we needed to launch the Country Toads. Sleeping Bear Press agreed and the Country Toads were hopping into their first book.

Hank and Buckeroo are a great duo but coming in a close second would be Scillian and Bowers. I think those combinations are TOAD-ALLY awesome!