Squidge Magazine: Can you give us a brief overview of your background?  How did you get started?

Cory Godbey: There’s a story I’ve told a few times is that when I was in kindergarten we had a little project where we had to draw what we wanted to be when we grew up.  I had no idea what I wanted so I just started drawing.  I ended up drawing a policeman with one of those old hats, the ones with the badge on the front.  I distinctly remember setting my pencil down and thinking, “Man, that’s a good looking hat!”

After that my abiding memory of school was doodling in my books, looking up, not knowing what was going on, and then getting back to doodling.  I never played sports much or anything like that, I just liked to draw.  From there I went on like most people interested in drawing, I took art classes in high school and majored in art in college. Drawing/not paying attention during required activities (like most classes) I believe was fundamental in my artistic development.

SM: Your day job is at Portland Studios – can you run us through what a typical workday is like?

CG: It’s pretty low key; we don’t have a chimp in a diaper running around on a scooter or anything like that. Mostly involves all of us keeping our heads down and working.  If Photoshop crashes there’s usually the ringing sounds of fists flying through desks.  But otherwise low-key.

SM: You’ve just finished working on the Maurice Sendak tribute Terrible Yellow Eyes, what was that like putting together?

CG: It really fulfilled this desire I’d had for a long time to do something more than just enjoy “Where the Wild Things Are” — to do what I could to tribute the book.  Maurice Sendak’s stories and picture have done more to influence me than any other artist.  When I (re)discovered his books in college it was a watershed moment; they crystallized for me the stories I want to tell and helped to guide me, artistically.

Ultimately it was more work than I think I was anticipating, keeping up with Terrible Yellow Eyes but it was rewarding to see the project come together every Friday morning. I spent the month of April gathering my contacts, getting artists on board and working on my first few tributes.  From there we hit the ground running on May 1.  The goal all along was two-fold:

1. To tribute the book and express my love for the story and picture and
2. June 10 is Maurice Sendak’s birthday.

This past June was his 81st birthday and I wanted to make, basically, a giant digital birthday card. I was talking with one of my friends, Kazu Kibuishi about the project early on and he told me that his creative director at Scholastic knew Sendak personally and that whenever I felt the project was ready he’d pass it along.  Well! That was pretty exciting, waiting for June 10 felt like waiting for my 6th birthday.  It was a great day for Wild Things.  I could not be more proud of the collection we have put together over on Terrible Yellow Eyes.  The volume of posts per Friday has lightened, but the goal along was Sendak’s birthday so this isn’t really a surprise.  I wanted to create a collection of Wild Things inspired art for us to express our love for the book.  I feel we met that goal and I could not be more pleased with what we all have been able to put together and give back.

SM: Have you had any feedback from Maurice Sendak himself?  Any plans for another similar tribute?

CG: Not exactly, I’ve heard that he’s a pretty reclusive fella, and since he just turned 81 I’m not sure how “online” he might be.  Like I said before, I did have a friend able to get the site to Sendak’s art director and I know he passed it along.  That was back June 10.  Really my goal is fulfilled for the site, to bring together a collection of some of the best work in the world and tribute a book that I love.  It’d be nice to hear something back but at this point my number one goal has been met so I’m pleased.

I’m moving on to other projects now.  For one, this Winter Justin [Gerard, fellow Portland Studio artist] and I are putting together a show based on Greek mythology.

SM: You’re one of a growing number of artists using a blog to show their techniques and process, you seem quite happy with it – what was your thinking behind this?

CG: Ha, well, probably it’s a good way to have more to post about! I don’t think I’ve thought too much about it, actually.  I’ve always admired artists who are open about their work and talk about how they do what they do.

SM: You’re also a very keen writer via your blog, how does help with promoting your work?

CG:  love to write.  I have several books I’m working on and several I’ve finished.  Definitely having a blog is a great way to promote work and helps to give an outlet for doodles and nonsense that might otherwise not see the light of day.  I guess that’s a good thing.

Cory Godbey’s blog is here. Terrible Yellow Eye’s is here and the TYE Exhibition runs at Gallery Nucleus September 19^th until October 6th