When I'm doing artwork, there's an order inside my head, but it would be hard for me to tell anyone else what it is. I'm an assistant's nightmare.

Here's a shot of my table while working on the book At the Supermarket. If you look carefully within the clutter, you can see a pencil drawing of a boy's face. I have a 5-foot long drawing table, but I often end up having to move to the 8-foot long dining table pictured here.

The book I'm working on right now is on very large sheets of gesso-ed hot press watercolor paper. First I draw an ink drawing on the paper. Then I gesso over it and a little ghost of the ink drawing shows through. I start working in acrylic glazes, alternating with opaque paint, and sometimes alternating between brush and a paint knife If you look at Welcome to Kindergarten, you'll get an idea of the end result.

I'm sharing this in case any fellow artists want some how-to information. I arrive by trial and error. I didn't like acrylics until I discovered you could use them as glazes, too, except that you have to get used to them drying in a different color from what you put down. I'm comfortable with oil paint, but it takes too long to dry for the picture book process.