Author-Illustrator Spotlight: Kaz Windness

© Kaz Windness

 June 25, 2021

We are thrilled to feature author-illustrator Kaz Windness and her new graphic novel, IF UR STABBY (Hermes Press), coming out July 20! Enter to win a copy!

Tell us about yourself and how you came to write and illustrate for children and teens.

Hi there! Kaz Windness here! (www.WindnessBooks.com)

I’ve always told stories with my drawings, even as a young kid. Pictures come first for me, and my training is in illustration. Writing and illustrating children’s books has been my career dream since childhood-- that and being a world traveling ballerina, but I’m short and awkward, so drawing it is!

© Kaz Windness

Out of high school, I studied humanities at Salt Lake Community College, taking classes that would give me both writing and art skills. I then went on to study illustration at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD) in Lakewood, Colorado, where I was a valedictorian graduate in 2002.

© Kaz Windness

Out of college, I was hired as an illustrator for a couple independent picture book publishers, and that was a steep but helpful learning curve. I also ghost wrote a couple middle grade novels, published with Sourcebook/Jabberwocky, and the experience was like getting a paid education in how to write for an older audience.

I now teach at RMCAD and teaching has been my greatest learning experience. My awesome students inspire and challenge me to grow every day. I’ve also found the SCBWI to be an invaluable resource, both in terms of learning, but especially for networking and finding a community that shares the same passion of quality books for children and teens. 

Congrats on your upcoming graphic novel, If UR Stabby!  Tell us about it and what inspired you.

Thank you! We’re excited about all the Stabby buzz and I can’t wait for the world to meet this cantankerous unicorn. (Wear eye protection, trust me!) 

© Kaz Windness

Stabby is a spin-off character from my first written and illustrated book, Mother Goth Rhymes (Hermes Press, 2019). Mother Goth Rhymes (www.MotherGothRhymes.com) is a collection of dark, twisted, and humorous nursery rhyme parodies, meant for a teen and adult audience, and began as a way to blow off steam during the 2016 US presidential elections. It was the project that attracted the interest of my agent, Timothy Travaglini (Transatlantic Agency), at the Portfolio Showcase during the SCBWI Winter Conference in NYC in 2018. 

© Kaz Windness

Mother Goth Rhymes sold late 2018, published in 2019, and sold out at San Diego Comic-Con that summer. Fans were especially excited about the character Stabby, a murderous unicorn from a poem titled, “If You’re Stabby and You Know It (Kill Your Friends),” and it became clear that Stabby needed his own book.

© Kaz Windness

Hermes Press committed to publish whatever I came up with, and I’ve always wanted the opportunity to explore comics, so If UR Stabby (www.IfURStabby.com) was born. It’s not a traditional graphic novel in that it’s a collection of comics, art parodies, and single panel gags. The book is built around Stabby’s world, and there’s continuity, but you won’t find a story arc. It was both exciting and overwhelming to have the freedom to create whatever I wanted, so my biggest challenge was curating my outpouring of ideas into themes that would make sense in a book format. 

Were you able to transfer your picture-making skills to creating a graphic novel?

Creating If UR Stabby was a very different process from writing picture books, but sequential storytelling in comics is not so different from sequential storytelling in picture books. I’ve been obsessed with comics since childhood, Peanuts, Garfield, and Calvin and Hobbes especially, and if you study them enough, you get a feel for pacing the set-up and punchline. I also love stand-up comedy, and I love picking apart patterns and understanding the anatomy of a joke. One of the best comedic tools is the element of surprise. That last panel (AKA punchline) shouldn’t be predictable, but the joke should have been hiding in plain sight all along.    

© Kaz Windness

 

Was your initial road to publication long and winding, short and sweet, or something in between?

Oh my gosh, when they say persistence pays off, be sure you have persistence in spades before you start this journey. I’m stubborn and tenacious by nature and it took me about fifteen years of dedicated effort to see some traction in my publishing career. Historically, I’ve been a late bloomer, and it feels good to be in the pocket now, but I (not-so) jokingly tell people to quit if they can. If you can’t quit, keep going! You are in the right career and your effort will pay off.

© Kaz Windness

What projects are you working on now?

I’m creating final artwork for Swim, Jim! —a book about a little crocodile who’s afraid of the water-- coming out with Simon & Schuster Summer 2022. I have another book with Simon & Schuster coming out in Spring 2023— Bitsy Bat, School Star. Bitsy’s world is turned upside down when she’s enrolled in a school for mice. It’s the book of my heart and speaks to my experience of being autistic. I also have an early reader graphic novel out on submission and I’m dummy-booking a story about little squid named Squirt who wants big squid underwear but keeps have “inkcidents.” 

© Kaz Windness

I think of myself as a creative shark and if I stop swimming, I’ll die. I always have several projects chumming the water. (I probably should have stopped the shark analogy a sentence earlier.)

What advice would you give to your younger self? Is this the same you'd give to aspiring author-illustrators?

I wish I’d focused on the kidlit lane sooner. I had a lot of side quests going—pet portraits, art licensing, hand-painted jewelry, caricatures, real estate administration, psychic readings—and some of that supported my children’s book publishing career and some of it didn’t. Granted, you have to do what you have to do to pay the bills, but diversifying your creative attention too much can take away from your primary objectives. I didn’t have publishing success right away so I thought I should do something else, when what I really needed to do was focus, dig deeper, and get the necessary skills figured out.

I also wish I’d taken more writing an illustration workshops and classes out of college. I thought I knew it all already and I couldn’t figure out what wasn’t working and that was frustrating. Learning from people who have success in your chosen field is invaluable. 

What is one thing most people don't know about you?

Wow, that’s a question! I had a pretty rough childhood, and I don’t talk about it much. It’s too painful and I don’t see myself as a victim. But it’s why I love children’s books so much—they were my escape and comfort. I want to give kids who are struggling the same kind of joy I found in books. 

Where can people find you online?

www.WindnessBooks.com

Kaz Windness is an author-illustrator who loves to make her readers laugh. Kaz specializes in cute (and sometimes spooky!) characters with lots of humor and heart for kids of all ages. 

Kaz studied children’s book illustration at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD) where she was a valedictorian graduate in 2002. A proud SCBWI member, Kaz volunteers as the Rocky Mountain Chapter Illustrator Coordinator (2009-present). She is passionate about helping artists succeed and believes education is key. She is a professor of illustration and curriculum author at RMCAD (2013-present) and RMC-SCBWI illustrator mentor.

Kaz is obsessed with squishy-faced dogs, waffles, and all things spooky and witchy-woo-woo. She loves working in watercolor, acrylic, collage, pencil, but mostly Photoshop. There's not much she won't turn into an art supply. 

Kaz lives in Colorado with her English teacher husband, two sons, and a bunny-obsessed Boston Terrier named Remy. 

 

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