Our International Guest: Doug Cushman

Doug was born on May 4, 1953 in Springfield, Ohio and moved to Connecticut with his family when he was 14 years old. While in junior high and high school he created comic books lampooning his teachers, selling them to his classmates for a nickel a piece. Since 1978 Doug Cushman has illustrated over 125 children's books, thirty or so of which he wrote as well.

Some of His Achievements
A place on the New York Times Children’s Best Sellers list;
National Cartoonist’s Society Reuben Award for Book; Illustration;
2004 Christopher Award for Book Illustrations
2007 Maryland Blue Crab Award; California Young Reader’s Medal

He is a fan of mystery novels and enjoys cooking, travelling, eating and absorbing French culture and good wine—even designing a label for a Burgundy wine maker-- in his new home in Paris, France.

In the many well-received picture books Doug Cushman has written and illustrated, his emphasis on character is evident in both text and artwork. As he once commented: "A good character will almost write a book by himself with a little nudge or two from the author." Of course pictures, too, play an important role. The inspirations of many stories have been born with a scribbled character in a sketch book or on a café napkin. From there on it's a process of moving characters and plot around, adding, subtracting, throwing out, rewriting. "It's a very physical process," Cushman has said. "My first dummies are almost collages with scraps of paper taped all over the pages. Words and pictures must work together in unison, one not be more important than the other. In the end, of course, it's always story, story, story."

See more of Doug Cushman's artwork at http://www.doug-cushman.com