EARLY DRAFTS: NAUGHTY SANTA

So yesterday the new Adventures in Cartooning book dropped. This is the third book in the series (and another is wrapped up already).  I am fortunate to have two great collaborators— Alexis Frederick-Frost and Andrew Arnold— and the question we get asked a lot is how the collab works. Who does what?

Once we have the theme/idea for any given book we are e-mailing each other scenes, idea, and gags. Many are scribbled on scraps of paper. I have a pile of paper in my studio that’s blank on one side and used 0n the other.  I like to use both sides before recycling.

Yesterday I grabbed a sheet that was clearly an early sketch by Alexis for the Adventures in Cartooning Christmas Special. I searched my paper pile (and computer) to find the pages immediately before and after but—alas—no luck. Though the AIC X-mas book has a Yeti, a dragon, and a giant foot, I doubt anything would have made kids squirm more than seeing the fourth panel below. Lord only knows what the knight walked in on!