I’ve known Craig about the same number of years as my husband. They worked together on a computer animated movie. When I began to hang around David, all the animators called me Yoko! Haha! Nowadays, Craig lives across the street from us. Craig is a generous person who likes to laugh and drink good beer.

JM: Tell us a little about yourself

CG: okay! i’ll try {=o) i’m thirty three – the youngest of three boys. pastor’s kids, mom and dad raised us in the church. grew up in a little (1.7 square miles) town in missouri until my family up-and-moved to phoenix the year karate kid part II came out.

i have a lot of teachers in my life: my dad, as well as being a pastor, is a high school teacher, my mom and brother are teachers, and several members of my extended family are teachers and preachers. on top of that, the place i’ve worked for the past ten plus years is filled with teachers – that’s what i get for trying to get out of school as fast as possible i guess.

when i was a kid i wanted to make cartoons. as a teenager that sorta morphed into comic books but by the time i was supposed to be applying for colleges, i was too late to get into comic book school, so i defaulted back to cartoons. {=o) i did get to work on some cartoons in the early aughts with some great people, and hope to work on cartoons again one day.

i tend to stay up late. i put things off. i like movies, characters, cartoons and stories. i like the internet. i’m good at google. i’m pretty good at video games.

i like to eat! and although, not picky, i do tend to get bored pretty easily. so one of the things i like to do is find new places to eat – things i’ve never tried or heard of. i also tend to plan entire vacations around food! oh, by the way, i love to travel!

JM: Where have you traveled? What has been your favorite place? Can you share a favorite travel photo?

CG: well, when i was 16 i had the amazing opportunity to spend a few weeks in europe through the people to people student ambassadors program. we got to go to italy, austria, and hungary – a week in each country. the best part about that trip was being able to spend time with families in their homes. that’s something you really can’t experience most of the time when you go on trips and visit other cultures. more recently, i’ve been trying to do a big trip every year. so for the past few years i’ve been able to go to thailand, vietnam, and hawaii. it’s so hard to pick a favorite place!! but i’m going to say mui né, vietnam. it was just such a beautiful and simple place. the people were very kind … and the food was amazing! {=o)

JM: Can you share some drawings?

CG: sure!

a drawing of batman with my brushpen

a weird crustacean girl i kinda watercolored

a pretty stylized drawing of wonder woman

and a logo for a scooter club some friends of mine are in {=o)

JM: Nice! I really love the wonder woman one!

You are really into obscure bands; what are some of your favorites?

CG:

mariachi el bronx – a punk band (the bronx) that has a great traditional-style mariachi side project

kid koala – the most creative turntablist i’ve ever heard

phosphorescent – really great indie rock / country

the rural alberta advantage – a cool indie band from canada that sings songs about canada

pigeon john – my favorite hip-hop rapper guy

carolina chocolate drops – old-timey string / jug band

roar – great local indie rock band

magnetic fields – killer songs, always funny or bitter and heartbreaking; varied styles

why? – indie folk / rock with a dash of hip-hop

christian scott – jazz trumpeter; kind of a jazz / artrock

menomena – just a great fun indie rock band

damien jurado – singer / songwriter mostly in the indie folk genre i guess

slim cessna’s auto club – kind of alternative country punk gothabilly {=o)

but, you know, i like stuff like radiohead and weezer too.

JM: Will you draw a unicorn for me?

CG: sure!

JM: Yay! I love it! Would you like to share an internet link?

CG: oh, wow. i dunno. i have a website that i don’t keep up to date heycraig.com
i like google and twitter

Thanks Craig for participating in the interview series! Ask him any of your questions below!