Former Staff Cartoonist Looking to Get Into Children's Books

By: E&P Staff Stacy Curtis, who lost his editorial cartoon job at The Times of Northwest Indiana in an apparent cost-cutting move this March, is seeking a career as a children's book illustrator.

DailyCartoonist.com reported today that Curtis, who is in his mid-30s, has signed Shannon Associates to represent him in his new endeavor. The cartoon blog quoted Curtis as saying: "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."

Shannon Associates represents or has represented "Harry Potter," "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," "The Chronicles of Narnia," "Shrek," "Star Wars," Pixar's "Cars," and other projects, according to Curtis, who had joined the Munster, Ind.-based Times in 1996.