We're going to Surf City, gonna have some fun. Now, two girls for every boy.

The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real.

Writing a story is like going down a path in the woods. You follow the path. You don't worry about getting lost. You just go.

The books take a year just to do the drawing. I will travel to a country to do the research and get ideas. Sometimes I don't travel to do research, but mostly I do. It takes a long time, but do I ever get tired of it? Not really. The characters kind of grow and evolve.

Of all people, children are the ones that really understand when there's a truth there for them - an emotional truth. The characters really have to work. Children, as an audience, are very inspirational for me.

I loved being a child. If I do have a talent, it's not so much being an artist, but it's being able to remember back to that time.

I create books for six-year-olds. I don't know why that time of my life was so important to me, but no matter what I draw, it always looks like it comes from a children's book. I can't resist. I'll set out to paint a serious picture then think, "Well, maybe there would be a little bunny in that corner."