There's arrogance for you. I think all artists insert themselves into their subject matter.

There are more than a few messages from lonely people wondering why they never find themselves described...I illustrated one, "How come no one ever misses me?" They kill me, those.

I toyed with making portraits based on people's discarded shopping lists found on the street, or old diaries bought on eBay, or other forms of borrowed stories. When I stumbled across the Missed Connections listings, I knew immediately I'd found it.

I've illustrated many children's books and I feel awfully lucky to be able to do something I love so much, and yes, to be able to pay the rent, but there was a yearning to do something more grown up, and something where I didn't have to cater to anyone; I was just waiting for the material.

Nothing is known for sure, even the person who was there isn't entirely sure he or she had the same response as the other in that moment. One person might have fallen head over heels, the other might have been thinking about what to have for dinner and inadvertently making eye contact.

I look for ambiguous messages to illustrate...I like some detail but not too much detail.

I have had people come to the site from all over the world. The US and Canada predominantly, but also Brazil and South Africa and Greece and Indonesia and Hong Kong and Ireland and Argentina and Spain and Israel and Australia.