From the Archives

 

The Monsters Under the Bed Are Real, 2017

The title sort of says it all, and isn't that a lesson we've learned over and over these past few years.

I made this with ink, watercolor, and a few colored pencil details back in January of 2017 when I was getting ready to fly to the SCBWI conference in New York. I love that conference. I love that it's teaming with positive energy and good intentions. I love the location, right in midtown, next to Grand Central Terminal, with a Shake Shack and a Magnolia Bakery within shouting distance. I love that children's literature dignitaries like Tomi de Paolo and Bryan Collier are just walking around shooting the breeze with everyone. I love spotting the cool kids like Peter Brown and Debbie Ridpath Ohi. I love the enthusiasm with which everyone exists in that setting, and the professional courtesy extended to all involved. It's a magical situation.

I was trying my best to bridge worlds with this illustration. I hadn't yet written My Monsters/Eugene's Monsters yet, so I hadn't rolled the monster characters that I'd been drawing since college into my illustrations in a world-building cohesive way yet. The monsters had always been, and I can now see will always be, physical manifestations of our feelings, and where else could our feelings hide? When else would be a more appropriate time to have our feelings out running amok than that time when we're tucked into bed, waiting for sleep?

The monsters, like feelings, come in all shapes and sizes. Some are the good ones, and others are not. They're a little unruly, and hard to control, but overall they're important, and necessary, and after a few years work on the topic - welcome.

For more information on my monsters, see the digital dummy of my book Eugene's Monsters on my website.