And I wanted something that could really be shared between parent and child, over and over, so I decided to make a bedtime book as well. I wanted to make a concept book, in this case about color, which also had a narrative thread. The first picture book that was published, IN A BLUE ROOM, was a sort of self-assignment. I learned how to paint from Yuyi Morales. I took a couple of classes at Berkeley with Ashley Wolff and Julie Downing. I decided to illustrate my own books when several illustrator friends said they wanted to add color to a book that I wrote in which the story required it be black and white. Tell us a little of your beginnings as an artist.OH NO, LITTLE DRAGON! Has a bright blue dragon with a bright green mom, who breathes bright red and yellow fire. I think the Cameroonian influence can be seen in my love of bright colors, though to be honest, I loved bright colors when I was a child too.

I grew up in the Midwestern United States and lived for several years in Cameroon, West Africa. I am an American of Sicilian/German ancestry.

What’s your nationality, where have you lived and how has this influenced you and your art?.

So his illustrations may change to suit the themes or style of the story. An author/illustrator, on the other hand, finds his voice in the text. Typically, the illustrator/author finds her voice in the illustrations, so their style tends to be consistent over many books. An illustrator/author is someone who is an illustrator who migrated to writing. I am actually a writer who migrated to being an illustrator.

I am an author/illustrator, which I see as distinctly different from an illustrator/author.

He lives up to that smile, folks, and has great taste in ice-cream and Italian restaurants. I have since had the pleasure of meeting him at the SCBWI conference in LA in 2011 and in San Francisco when visiting last month. Isn’t it fun to finally meet those online friends with whom you’ve been chatting for months/years? I stalked friended him because he speaks French, has lived in Africa and writes picture books, which was enough of a connection for me. Jim Averbeck was a FB friend before our real life encounter. Jim Averbeck SCBWILA (c) Jim Averbeck 2012

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck