June 5, 2006

Today he has signed Shannon Associates to represent him.While sitting at my desk at The Times, I wished I had time to do something more creative and fun like illustrate children’s books, and possibly write and illustrate my own children’s books.Even though, I’ve heard time and time again how hard it is to get an illustration representative, I decided to go for it. I worked really hard to build a strong portfolio and approached a handful of reps, and just for kicks, I sent my work to a couple of the DREAM reps that I had no chance in hell landing.Today, I signed with Shannon Associates, one of those dream reps.Shannon Associates is one of the top illustration reps in the world, who will represent my work in many illustration markets, starting with the children’s market.Shannon Associates represents or has worked on projects such as “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Harry Potter,” “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “Shrek,” “Star Wars” and most recently, Pixar’s “Cars,” according to Stacy.You can check out Stacy’s illustration portfolio that he maintains on his web site.

Rosemary Goudreau, the editorial page editor for the Tampa Tribune writes a farewell message to Paul Combs who left the Tribune to return to his native Ohio.Dear Readers,I’m sorry to say that Paul Combs, our editorial cartoonist, has decided to leave the Tribune.Paul and his family moved to Tampa a year and a half ago from a small town in Ohio, and like some number of people who move to Florida, they found it difficult to plant roots in our sandy soil.Now the draw of family and friends is pulling them home. Paul plans to syndicate his cartoons, so you will still see his work from time to time on our pages.And we hope to have another cartoonist on board by the end of the summer.Daryl Cagle has the last Combs/Tribune cartoon on his blog.