Book Birthday Blog with Kate Rietema

Welcome to SCBWI-MI's Book Birthday Blog!

Where we celebrate new books from Michigan's authors, illustrators and translators.

 

Congratulations to Kate Rietema on the release of Cheetahs Return to India: The True Story of Aasha and Pavan

 

What are the unique challenges of writing a non-fiction book? Please describe your research approach. 

This was tricky because my research was happening in real time. In fact, my agent submitted this manuscript to Tilbury House before Aasha had her cubs—so it wasn’t until after the book was acquired that I added the spread about her litter. Then, after final edits were complete, I learned the sad news of Pavan’s death. Although we couldn’t add his death into the story, we did include it in a timeline as part of the backmatter.

 

Interior spread

For my research, I gathered information from news articles, newsletters, videos, visiting the Cheetah Research and Education Centre in Namibia, observing cheetahs in the wild, and speaking with primary sources.

 

Spotting cheetahs in the wild—a rare treat!

Because this story is about a current event, I tried to have as many primary sources as possible. This included personal and email contact with Dr. Laurie Marker, who is considered the world’s leading expert on cheetahs; Lea Petersen, head cheetah keeper at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia; and Eli Walker, who photographed and monitored the cheetahs upon their release in India. 

Although I had success in contacting several helpful sources, it’s important to note that I hit a few dead-ends, too. In response to an inquiry of India’s forest and wildlife departments, I received a handwritten response in Urdu! (Eventually I was able to translate the letter, but it still didn’t prove helpful.) 

How did you come up with the idea for the book?

My brother lives in Namibia—an African country known as the cheetah capital of the world. A few years ago, he posted a news article on social media about plans to reintroduce cheetahs from Africa back into India. I knew this would be groundbreaking work and I had to know more!

What is something you hope your readers will take away from your book?

Last fall, I had the extreme privilege of visiting the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, Africa. While there, I had dinner with the head cheetah keeper, Lea Petersen, and I asked her what she wants readers to know. Lea said, “Even if our work is really tough, and even if we don’t get the results we hoped for, we still need to try.” Reintroducing cheetahs into a country where they’ve been regionally extinct for 70 years is an enormously bold move. There is no guarantee this plan will work, but there are conservationists who have dedicated their lives to saving cheetahs—and they’re not afraid try. Like Lea, I hope readers feel inspired to try new things—even if it’s hard, and even if it might not work. 

 

Visiting the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia, Africa

What are your marketing plans for the book and where can we find it?

I’m looking forward to all the usual visits at bookstores and schools, but because of the subject matter, I’m also reaching out to zoos. I sent mailers to every zoo in the United States and Canada who keep cheetahs, suggesting my book for their gift stores. I’m also working to set up a couple interviews with zoos that host podcasts.
 
You can find my book in all the usual places—Amazon, Bookshop, and hopefully at your local bookstore. If it’s not in stock, please request it! You can also request it at your local library and check it out for free! 

 

Final proofing before it goes to print!

What's next for you?

I’m thrilled to share that I have three more picture books releasing in the next two years! I have two holiday books with Paraclete Press—one for Christmas and one for Easter. I also have a free verse poetry collection about seasons that will be published by B&H Kids. 

More about the book . . .

Long ago, cheetahs roamed India's grasslands and forests. But as farms expanded and cities grew, India's cheetah population dwindled . . . to nothing. Now, seventy years later, cheetahs are back! From a selection of African cheetahs, Aasha and Pavan are chosen as the first cheetahs to be released into the wild. Will they survive in their new home? Will they thrive? Will India finally see a return of their beloved cheetahs?

Published by: Tilbury House

More about the author . . .

Kate Rietema is the author of three children’s books and nearly 100 stories and poems in publications like Highlights, Cricket Media, and The School Magazine. She lives and writes in a red house in Michigan with her husband and five daughters. Kate hopes that cheetahs will always survive, and that this book will inspire readers to learn more about wildlife conservation. You can find more about Kate’s books at https://www.katerietema.com/ 

Instagram & X: @KateRietema

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKateRietema

Website: https://www.katerietema.com/

 

Kate on safari through Etosha National Park

 

Book Birthday Blog with Karolyn Wallace

 

Welcome to SCBWI-MI's Book Birthday Blog!

Where we celebrate new books from Michigan's authors, illustrators and translators.

 

Congratulations to Karolyn Wallace on the release of I Love It When We Read Together

 

How did you come up with the idea for the book?

I Love It When We Read Together grew out of fond memories of nightly reading with my own children. As an elementary school teacher, I can think of no greater gift than to encourage parents to do the same. Now a grandmother, I watch my children read with their children every night. I admire the dedication to storytelling, inquiry, and closeness that they nurture whenever and wherever they open a book.

What inspires you to write?

As a retired teacher, I wanted to find a way to give back. Writing about reading seemed like a great fit. I hope to encourage partnerships that make shared reading a deeper experience.

What is something you hope your readers will take away from your book?

It’s my wish that older readers will find the book instructive and notice some reading strategies that they can use. I hope younger readers will see themselves as partners that can also try out the same reading strategies. Younger readers may find it fun to notice the animals reading on each page as well.

What are your marketing plans for the book and where can we find it?

As you can imagine my favorite marketing plan is to go directly to children and visit schools and libraries. It is so much fun to show the original pictures of animals reading that I made and that Joey Wall skillfully incorporated into his illustrations.  So, I take books and collages on tour with me on school visits and bookstore events.

What's next for you?

It’s my hope to build a series of books around togetherness. Whether its cooking or fishing together, early readers can easily use the reading tools mentioned in I Love It When We Read Together while enjoying other  experiences with a companion. 

More about the book . . .

I Love It When We Read Together invites reading partners to create their own special rituals, with gentle prompts and charming illustrations that encourage kids to read along, spot animals and spark lively conversations. This book is perfect for building fluency and connection. Inspired by the literacy challenges of the pandemic, early childhood educator Karolyn Wallace crafts a cozy experience that helps families bring the joy of reading home.

Publisher: Mission Point Press

More about the author . . .

Karolyn Wallace is a seasoned educator with over twenty years of experience teaching in elementary classrooms across public and private schools in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and New York. Before that, she was a broadcast journalist at local news affiliates in Los Angeles and Flint, Michigan. She is currently part of the team at The Children’s Learning Lab, where experienced educators connect with elementary students for online learning. She divides her time between Michigan and California, enjoying the company of her husband, children and grandchildren.   

Instagram: Togetherwithkarolyn

 

 

Writer Spotlight: Diane Telgen

 Encyclopedias, black belt, Monty Python, WFH, ghosts, and fart jokes: Author and long-time Michigander Diane Telgen 

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet author and long-time Michigan resident  Diane Telgen.

Diane Telgen

Diane says: FYI,  I was born in Ann Arbor and spent almost all of my next 45 years in Michigan. I served as website coordinator for SCBWI Michigan in the 2000s. 

Tell us about the young Diane who loved reading. When did the writing come in?

My mom taught reading, so I learned pretty early and was devouring classics like Little House on the Prairie by the time I started kindergarten. I couldn’t check out enough books from the library to match my appetite for reading, so my go-to material was the set of World Book encyclopedias we got from my teacher-grandfather.

You could often find me browsing entries like “dog”—so many breeds!—or “human body,” which had these amazing see-through pages that showed the various systems stacked atop each other.

But the Childcraft part of the set probably had the most influence on me. I practically wore out the spines on the first two volumes, Poems & Rhymes and Stories & Fables, the latter of which started me on my lifelong love of fairy tales and fantasy.

The other volumes covered subjects like “how things work” and “people to know.” These volumes taught me that stories about real life could be just as fascinating as those about dragons or spaceships.

Diane at age "7 or 8 (with my dog Jojo), visibly annoyed I'm being asked to stop reading to look at the camera"

I always joke that I read encyclopedias so much as a kid, that’s probably how I ended up writing them when I grew up! But I knew I wanted to write my own stories from about sixth grade onward. I’d go overboard with any English assignments involving a creative writing aspect, then finally tried a novel after college.

*Bonus Material: Random Real-Life Facts about Diane* 

Diane writes: "Despite being an absolute klutz growing up, I took up taekwondo in my thirties, became a black belt, won a national championship, and became a 4th-degree master."

You could write a book and I hope you will. But what drove you into martial arts?

I started taekwondo training back in my thirties because my son and I could take classes together and I was trying to encourage him to stay active with a sport. I ended up falling in love with its mix of structure (the patterns of forms) and creativity (combining self-defense moves), and it taught me how to fall and fail and get back up again—great lessons for an aspiring writer!

While my son quit after getting his second-degree black belt, I continued training for over fifteen years, competing nationally and eventually becoming a certified instructor and fourth-degree master. 

My cement break at my taekwondo testing for 4th-degree master in 2015

At our dojang, black belt tests involved an intense full-day examination, then several weeks of rehearsal before putting on a public demonstration. My love for the sport and my fellow students kept me going, despite bumps and bruises and the occasional dislocated toe—I even tested for fourth degree while living four hours away from the dojang!

But after I moved even further away and suffered an unrelated foot injury, I had to retire. I do have a YA manuscript based on my experiences, though!

Gale was first a man who founded a company with his name. And somewhere in suburban Detroit, Gale was a publisher who collected bio facts about authors and illustrators. You got to work there, fresh out of school. What was it like rubbing elbows with the literati?

I loved working in downtown Detroit in the Penobscot Building for Gale, compiling biographical entries and writing essays about authors. I once spent an entire month writing about Monty Python, both collectively and individually, but nothing topped getting responses from my favorite authors when I sent them their entries for review.

I’ve still saved personal letters I received from the likes of Arthur C Clarke, Isabel Allende, and R.L. Stine—the latter a fellow Python fan who said I was the first to notice he’d taken a pseudonym from a Python sketch!

Much of your published body of work is work-for-hire. The Haunted series, as well as two historically-researched titles. How would you explain work-for-hire to a novice writer? I know some WFH authors who won’t sell their books because they get no royalties. How do you square book sales if you aren’t financially rewarded for them?

Kidlit book cover collage:

Basically, work-for-hire projects happen when a publishing company or book packager comes up with an idea and then hires a writer to flesh it out. Your name is on the cover as the author, but the publisher retains the copyright and all the profits. You get paid when you turn in the manuscript, and that’s it—no royalties.

Transitioning from a publishing company employee to a freelancer doing work-for-hire felt pretty natural for me, because I was used to writing to someone else’s requirements and having them retain the copyright. 

I can make a little extra from my work-for-hire projects because the publisher of my Spooky America books sells them to me at a sizable discount; I then resell them online or at events, keeping the profit.

And my Ghostly Tales have allowed me to do school visits, where I talk about my books and especially how to do research. I love talking to kids about writing, and school visits can provide a little more income, as they do for traditionally published authors.

Your writing job in the Haunted series of books, as I understand it, was to take the stories from a previously-published adult collection and make it palatable for kid readers. How much writing versus editing was involved?

My Spooky America books are “adapted” from Arcadia’s local ghost-story collections for adults. I brought editing skills to the project by choosing only the stories that I thought would appeal to kids—ones involving disasters, child ghosts, and the like—and excluding those that seemed too violent or confusing. I used the originals for the basic facts, then did additional research.

Finally, I wrote my version of the stories entirely from scratch, because I knew I needed to provide a lot of historical context for kids to understand who these ghosts were and where they came from. I really consider these books half-local history, half-ghostly tales—as I sign my books, Ghosts are just history trying to get your attention! 

Is this title yours: Latinas! : women of achievement / Diane Telgen, Jim Kamp, editors ; foreword by Nicholasa Mohr.  If yes, what was involved in editing and compiling this collection?

Photo of selected books from my reference book career as editor, author, or contributor:

This title was adapted for the general market from a biographical directory I edited at Gale, Notable Hispanic American Women. The work is mainly gathering suggestions for listees from an advisory board, collecting research, and assigning entries. Not super interesting work, but I did get to personally interview an Olympic diver for the project.

“Hellmuffin”?

It’s weird where ideas can come from. My first published short story, “Hellmuffin,” came from a friend’s social media post complaining about her cat: “What the hell, Muffin?” This immediately brought to mind the idea of a devil-cat, and my friend granted permission for me to steal the word.

When a fellow Vermont College of Fine Arts grad announced she was seeking stories for a YA Halloween anthology, I drew on my experiences taming feral kittens and spending time on my grandparents’ farm to flesh out the initial concept.

You lived in the U.K. for four years. This is another book, (most of your life experiences would make a good story). Do you still have a passable accent? What kind of cultural shock to you and your family?

While that chance combination of words inspired a full story, other life experiences somehow don’t spark my muse. I spent four years as an expatriate in London and it became a huge part of my identity—I was the lone American in a local community band, for instance.

It gave our whole family new perspectives through the people we met, travel all over Europe, and daily exposure to British culture, but I’m not sure that experience will ever end up in a story. But I never say never! 

Me at a sixth-grade author visit in 2023: 

“[M]y inner child is a 9 year old boy who loves fart jokes.” Have you matured innerly?

My motto has always been: “You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever!” I delighted in bringing fun facts about 19th-century sanitation into one of my Ghostly Tales books in order to explain why so many people left cities like Milwaukee and Chicago in the summer to sail to lovely, clean-smelling western Michigan.

 Angelella Editorial?

After graduating from Vermont College of Fine Arts with my MFA in writing for children and young adults, I gave up reference book work to focus on my own writing. But as I’m sure many readers will be aware, it’s hard to break into traditional publishing.

So when one of my classmates invited me to join her freelance editing company, Angelella Editorial, I thought that would be a great alternative outlet for my knowledge and experience.

Me on my magical graduation day in 2017
 with my MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts

I worked on everything from rhymed picture books to adult fantasy series, with some clients who were just starting out and needed coaching to others who were experienced indie authors who just needed copyediting. One of my picture book clients got an agent who sold the book I helped edit at auction!

I’m mostly retired from Angelella Editorial now, with one or two legacy clients I’m still coaching, because I want to devote my working hours to my own writing. I still hope to find an agent and get a traditional publishing deal, and I’ve had champagne rejections with a YA fantasy and a nonfiction picture book. I still hope those projects see the light of day someday,

What's next?

I've been a member of SCBWI since around 2000,
 attending my first conference in Greece in 2002.
Here I am at the 2017 LA conference
dressed in costume for the Silver Linings Gala.

I’m currently working on a fantasy romance for adults with the intention to indie publish if I don’t find a traditional publisher. The industry has changed so much since I attended my first SCBWI conference in 2002, but I haven’t given up my writing dream yet!

Share your social media platforms:

Goodreads: author page for Diane Telgen

BlueSky: ‪@neglet.bsky.social‬

Instagram: Diane Telgen (but it’s mainly cat pictures)

Website: dianetelgen.com

I have a Twitter/X account but I don’t use it; it just exists so no one else can take it over: @neglet_

Book Birthday Blog with Kristen Uroda

 

Welcome to SCBWI-MI's Book Birthday Blog!

Where we celebrate new books from Michigan's authors, illustrators and translators.

 

Congratulations to Kristen Uroda on the release of Scientists Like Me: Stories, Advice, and Inspiration from 25 Trailblazers with Experiments to Try at Home

 

 

Your work includes a variety of genres, clients and projects, and this year, you have two new books releasing. How do you keep yourself organized?

My biggest secret isn’t fancy, I’m afraid! After more than a decade juggling illustration and graphic design alongside school or a full-time job, I’ve learned through trial-and-error what I can realistically take on and where my limits are.
 
For me, staying organized means being clear-eyed about what’s sustainable. Sometimes that means turning down projects to protect my health and sanity because I see this work as a marathon, not a sprint. So if saying no to a gig means I can enjoy dinner with my family tonight, sleep well, and avoid burnout later down the line, then that’s absolutely worth it to me.
 
Beyond that, I lean on project management skills I’ve picked up over the years that I definitely didn’t learn in art school! I’m normally a pretty optimistic person, but when I plan, I look at things with a very pessimistic mindset: I think about the unexpected hiccups like power outages, getting sick, or delayed feedback, and how I know I’ll always hit a few spreads that take three times longer than I expect. For editorial work, there’s fewer surprises because the turnaround is so tight, but for picture books I build in my own buffer time so I’m not derailed by the inevitable surprises and I can reasonably manage more than one large project at a time.

Which illustration is your favorite in the book and why?

It’s hard to pick just one because they were all such a joy to create! But Jane Goodall’s portrait stands out in my memory as I really admired Dr. Goodall as a child, so it felt especially meaningful to illustrate her. Throughout the book, we assigned each field of study its own color palette—Medicine, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and so on. Jane falls under Social Sciences, which was represented with purple. But of course, she’s so closely tied to the deep, green jungles where she did her pioneering work! Using the designated purple palette with hints of green was a fun creative puzzle, and I love how it turned out.

 

 

Jane Goodall

What do you hope readers will take away from the book? 

I hope readers come away thinking: science is cool! I love how this book highlights a wide range of scientists—both familiar faces and inspiring new voices so my biggest hope is that every reader finds someone they connect with and feels motivated to explore and ask questions, just like these scientists did. 

 

 

Karlyn Beer

 

 

Alan Turning

 

 

Nadine Caron

 

What are your marketing plans for the book and where can we find it? 

Hachette Book Group is handling most of the marketing and outreach, and I’m excited to see the book make its way to science fairs, classrooms, and libraries where curious minds can discover it.
 
But it’s available wherever books are sold! 

What's next for you? 

As shared previously, I’m currently illustrating my 5th picture book and continuing to illustrate covers for the Race to the Truth series with Crown Books. Last year was pretty busy, so I’m taking it slow this year to recalibrate a bit, think about some personal projects, and learn how to garden a little too. 

More about the book . . . 

Perfect for science loving kids, this book offers engaging profiles of twenty-five diverse scientists in fields ranging from physics to medicine to programming, paired with hands-on activities that let young readers jump right into the work.
 
From doctors and physicists, mathematicians and marine biologists, to AI experts and more, Scientists Like Me profiles a diverse collection of historic and contemporary scientists and encourages readers to discover their own scientific passions.



Written in partnership with the Kamin Science Center, Scientists Like Me is the perfect book for any kid who loves observing and discovering. It’s for any adult hoping to invigorate a young person’s interest in science. Most of all, it’s for anyone who’s ever wondered about the incredible world around us and wanted to find out more. 

Published by:  Hachette Book Group

More about the author . . . 

Kristen Uroda is a Michigan-based artist who creates vibrant illustrations that inspire people to dream, hope, and imagine a better, kinder world. 



Beginning her career in editorial illustration, Kristen has expanded her work to include publishing, creating picture books and illustrated book covers. Known for her light, joyful style and bursts of color, Kristen uses her art to spark joy, inspire connection, and renew moral imagination. 

Bluesky: @kristenuroda.bsky.social

 

 

 

 

2026 Novel Mentor Announcement

Start getting your manuscripts ready...we have a 2026 Novel Mentor!!

Sheela Chari is the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including KARTHIK DELIVERS, an NEA Read Across America book, and THE UNEXPLAINABLE DISAPPEARANCE OF MARS PATEL series, based on the Peabody Award-winning mystery podcast. Her other titles include FINDING MIGHTY, a Children's Choice Award finalist; and VANISHED, an APALA Children’s Literature Honor Book and Edgar Award finalist.  Sheela holds an MFA from New York University and is on faculty in  Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. She lives in New York. 

Mentorship applications will open in January of 2026. Applicants will submit a synopsis and ten pages of their manuscript. An anonymous team of judges will select the top three applications, and Ms. Chari will choose the mentorship recipient! The winner will work with Ms. Chari over the course of 2026 and receive a  "Golden Ticket" to submit their mentorship project to an acquiring editor or agent. 

The September Critique Carousel is a great time to get feedback on your work to prepare for this incredible opportunity! You can get more information about the Critique Carousel here. 

Featured Illustrator: Dana Atnip

Sunday funnies, Detroit dragons, comic cons, and Pesky Gremlins: Featured Illustrator and cartoonist Dana Atnip

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet cartoonist  and featured illustrator Dana Atnip.

Your website abounds with your art, but very little bio, although you admit you were consumed with making art from a young age. What started young Dana on the road to web comics and picture books? 

I started drawing at a very young age. I would see pictures of cartoon characters on the wall of my classrooms, such as Mickey Mouse and Snoopy, and I wanted to be able to draw them; so I would spend a lot of time trying to draw my favorite characters. 

When the Sunday newspaper came every week (now I feel old, haha) I would grab the Sunday funnies and read them over and over. I loved comics, and I learned pacing and delivering gags from constantly reading my favorite comic books (Peanuts, Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County, Cathy to name a few). I also loved picture books, although I was more interested in illustrating them than in writing them. 

How did you transition from copying established cartoon characters to creating your own strip?

I started drawing comic strips as a kid on regular notebook paper with just a pencil; I would make my own Garfield comics. As I got older I started making my own characters and comics, and would send them to syndicates, hoping to get a contract. 

While I sometimes got good feedback, no one was willing to syndicate my work (where then it would be in newspapers). It’s pretty much like submitting manuscripts to publishing houses, but this was comics.

One editor told me to just write what I love; I loved dragons and astronomy, so that’s how I came up with Galactic Dragons. I received some praise, but still no contract. Years later I rebooted the comic for the web, so at least I had a chance to display my work to an audience (but with no pay). 

Most cartoonists these days don’t submit their work to syndicates as newspapers are a dying institution; they just post them to social media in hopes of building an audience who will hopefully support them in different ways such as subscribing to their Patreon page or give tips like Ko-Fi, or buy their books and merch.

I do freelance work that I do get paid for, like pet portraits or design work. It’s not enough to quit my job but it’s a nice side hustle.

These photographs were taken by professional photographer, Alanna St. Laurent. She has agreed to let me add cartoons to a few of her photographs,  depicting Detroit locations! https://danaatnipart.com/cartoonphotographs 

Could you tell us about Alanna, and the cartoons you add? How did this collaboration come about? 

Well, Alanna is my sister! Creativity runs in our family. She was in her forties when she discovered her passion for photography, and she worked very hard learning everything she could. She’s an incredibly talented and amazing photographer. 

She has received numerous awards over the years, and her work has been displayed in magazines, books, and in many businesses around the Detroit area. Her passion includes Detroit photography, historical architecture, and old barns and mills. 

I would look at some of her beautiful Detroit photography images and imagine cartoon characters in those images; so, she gave me permission to use her images combined with cartoons I would draw. I sell prints and magnets of these images at local comic cons. You can view her work at www.AlannaStLaurent.com

Sooooo…this is going to be my last comic for a while. I had hoped to do 15 new comics, but I’ve been swamped with other projects and getting prepared for comic con season. And with my software being buggy too, I figured this was a good place to stop for now. 

Not sure when this post is from, but at the time you were announcing a hiatus. And you were swamped with other projects (emphasis mine.) Care to set the scene? At this point, buggy hardware, comic con season (emphasis mine again), and not the promised allotment of Dragons, what did the future look like? Where are you now? 

That was likely from when I put a pin in weekly Galactic Dragon comics for a while back in 2022. I was doing freelance work, pet portraits, and creating new designs to sell at my table at comic cons, plus working a full-time job, so I just didn’t have the time to devote to drawing weekly strips anymore. 

Although I love the comic, it’s more of a hobby and not an income stream, so I had to put it on the back burner. As of right now I am updating new comics weekly to promote the release of my latest book, Galactic Dragons Vol 2: Planet X-F3. I have since gotten a new PC to replace my old, buggy one I’m happy to say.

I always leaned towards animals in my drawings.  For me, drawing the human figure was always a tough challenge.  To this day I still feel I struggle when drawing humans, but I still attempt it. 

You did ask that the characters be animals in your Quick Draw event with Ruth at A2CAF. Ha! I could slap myself for not taking pictures. I hope someone did. Tell us about your comic con weekend. 

stickers

I was so happy to be paired with Ruth again for the Quick Draw event at the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival! Intimidated as well, because I admire her and her work so much, she is so talented. 

Yes, Ruth was very kind to go along with my request for no people when we did the Quick Draw together; I’m intimidated to draw people, which likely is still old PTSD from a caricature class I did eons ago, where I just couldn’t draw people to look like the people they were supposed to be. 

My weekend went very well! Sales were good, and I got to see a lot of old friends as well as made some new ones. It’s always a great experience to do A2CAF, it’s my favorite show to do.

Describe a typical comic convention experience for Dana Atnip, Cartoonist. 

I will spend weeks in advance getting things together; going through inventory, making lists, designing new merch, ordering prints and stickers, and loading up boxes. It’s a lot of work but once I get to the show, I always feel it’s worth it! There’s just a great energy at comic cons, and it’s easy to get swept up in all the excitement.

How does an artist at a comic-con balance fan art requests versus copyrighted characters and shows?

Many artists who table at comic cons or art shows will also offer fan art of other popular characters from movies and cartoons; it’s a pretty common practice, although some artists will look down on artists that do fan art. 

But the reality is that it’s a tough and competitive market out there, and fan art can be what draws people to our tables where we can pitch them our own original characters and work. 

I personally offer both; I do fan art too but a big bulk of my work is my own. I also like to add a fun slant to it, like having the characters in actual photos of Detroit.

Dana and friend

As for getting struck with a copyright lawsuit, you do have to be careful. I’m small potatoes, I’m not out there selling thousands of dollars worth of merch with characters from say Disney (most smart artists steer clear of Disney fan art, but they own just about everything now). 

Someone selling a few prints of a licensed character is probably going to be very low on their radar, but if you open an Etsy or Amazon shop and are making a lot of money from copyrighted characters, you are taking a huge risk. That’s why I keep my fan art to a minimum, and I’ll  only sell it at my tables, not in an online shop.

You wrote a guest post for The Mitten where you outlined your struggle to balance a web comic with your desire to write and illustrate picture books. How goes it on the picture book front? 

Sadly the picture book front is still on the backburner. I still haven’t given up my desire to illustrate picture books someday; I still will write down ideas or write out rough drafts, but it’s been such a slow process for me because of real-life commitments. 

I still try to stay on top of new releases and I’m always at the library checking out picture books and graphic novels. Hopefully one day I will have more time to commit.

Greeting Cards? 

Greeting cards is another avenue that I had explored in the past, but I haven’t been devoting any time to it lately. Greeting cards are still a big business, despite so much digital media these days, but I’ve chosen to focus on other projects.

Vox and sketch

You cite a lot of cartoonists who influenced your art style. But the Galactic Dragon characters I’ve seen remind me of Walt Kelly’s Pogo. (and then I remember where I got the idea: Crazy Fox from Comic Fury.) What say you? Pogo or not Pogo?  

To say my characters remind you of Pogo is one of the biggest compliments I could receive! Walk Kelly was a master. My dad was a Pogo fan so I did spend time reading his comics; however I was so young I’ll admit I didn’t always understand them, but I loved his style so much!

Draw everyday.  Nothing will make you improve faster than the physical act of actual drawing or painting – even if it’s just sketching.  And if you want to draw digitally, you still first need to know how to draw on paper with a pencil. 

Your advice for aspiring artists. A struggle for today’s artists, digital and physical art have their pros and cons. How do you balance the digital vs. hand-drawn and painted for each of your projects? 

There are pros and cons to each, as you’ve said. I’ve always been a traditionalist and when I was in school there was no digital art. But now almost everything I do is digital! 

I have an iPad where I have Procreate, and as soon as I discovered brushes where I could sketch just like I was drawing on paper, it was game over. It’s so much easier and cleaner to draw digitally, but I still have my sketchbooks and will still draw with a pencil sometimes. 

And people really enjoy receiving something hand-drawn such as if I sketch a character in a book I’m signing. I think it means more to people to have something that’s an original. 

I will admit though that I can no longer say that someone might be a better artist because they learned to draw on paper. It still holds though that you do need to learn how to actually draw; AI and all the shortcuts that digital drawing software offers still doesn’t hold up if the person doesn’t know what they’re doing. 

And you can see it all over the place now, from picture books and coloring books being sold on Amazon to art work sold on Etsy; you can tell if the seller actually knows how to draw or not. 

The pros for digital for me is the ease; it’s so much easier to correct mistakes; you can enlarge and flip and move things around the page, you can’t do that (easily) on paper. However, you do have to have the hardware to draw digitally, and an iPad or a PC don’t come cheap. But you can go to an art store and buy a pad of paper, pencils, and ink pens for a reasonable price.

Peskygremlins and Zombieboycomics and comic fury and dustbunnymafia, and finally, skittercomic. (In a Desi Arnaz Lucy voice): Dana, you got a lot of ‘splaining to do. 

Lol! Those are some comics by my fellow cartoonists that I’ve befriended over the years! Comic Fury is a webhosting platform for webcomics.

What’s next? 

Right now I’m finishing up another run of Galactic Dragon comics, while also creating new designs for my next show in September, which will be WebcomicCon at the Rust Belt in Ferndale. 

I am also designing coloring books that I will sell on Amazon (something I didn’t even know I wanted to do until recently), and I plan to start another web comic that is a bit less niche than dragons in space, lol. And of course, continuing my pursuit of illustrating picture books!

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You can find me at:

www.danaatnipart.com
www.galacticdragons.com
Instagram: @danaatnip_art
Facebook: Facebook.com/galacticdragons
Twitter/X: @galacticdragons
Bluesky: @danatnip-art