What software do you use to make your movies?

Adobe Flash.

Where do you get your inspiration?

From everything around me. Memories, music, nightmares, things I thought someone said but actually misheard, shapes in the clouds, interesting patterns in half-mixed cake ingredients. There's no one source for creativity. So, if you're hoping to find a magical font of inspiration, all I can say is look around you. It's everywhere!

I have an idea for a cartoon. You could do one about...

No, I couldn't. If you have a story idea, I wholly encourage you to do something with it! Invent your own characters and make your idea come to life. Don't give it away to someone else! I just can't take anyone else's idea, no matter how great it might be. It wouldn't be mine, you see, and that's important. (But thank you for the suggestions, of course!)

Where do you get the music you use in your movies?

Sometimes friends write it for me. I've occasionally found songs in the public domain. Sometimes I purchase a license for royalty-free music, and there are a variety of places to order such tracks. I will not use anything without permission. Unfortunately, this also means you usually can't look up the tracks on iTunes and order them for yourself.

When is your book coming out?

I don't have a definite date on that yet ("that" being what is tentatively titled The Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow), but possibly some time in 2011.

What's the book about?

It's about a terrible evil that takes up residence in the woods of a small, forgotten town already cursed by dark forces and locked in perpetual autumn. People have vanished! Ghosts shriek desperate warnings! And there are signs of worse to come. It's up to three strange girls and one rather awkward boy to save this town, even though they have been cruelly outcast by it.

There will be more details as the book comes closer to print, but it'll be written and illustrated by myself and edited by Erin Clarke of Knopf. Well, actually, it's already written. I just need to revise and illustrate it at this point.

Will you make a music video for my band?

How much are you willing to pay? ;-) And, well, no. Probably not. It's not that your band isn't great. It's just that animation is an arduous process for me, and I don't know how I'd manage to find the time!

Can my band make music for one of your videos?

I'm extremely selective when it comes to the music that I use, so unless I've posted a call for music submissions, I've probably already got something in mind. Also, I'd feel bad about asking for a lot of changes, and you know I would ask.

I'd like to offer my talents as a voice actor.

Thank you! ...but, just as with music, unless I've made a specific call for voice actors, I'm not really looking for anybody as I already have a list of go-to people. It wouldn't be an easy job, anyway. I'm a mean director. I made Tim Jones cry when he was working on The Little Girl. Um... don't tell him I said that. It's, uh, very upsetting for him. Yes.

How did you come up with the idea for Skary?

The Childrin were mostly inspired by the antics of actual children. I worked with preschoolers a long time ago. Loved it. But I found that kids really do say the darnedest things. The darnedest, creepiest, most disturbing things. And they have no idea how strange the things they're saying are! Yet they say it all with such sweet, cherubic smiles. Parents don't usually allow their little ones to play with sharp objects. You think that's for the kids' protection? THINK AGAIN.

Who does your web design?

I do!

Can I send you my resume?

Er... okay, but it won't do you much good. I'm a one-woman operation.

Will you answer some questions for my school project?

I usually do, but it can take me a while to get to all my email. So, please don't ask if you've got a close deadline, and I recommend having a backup plan!

Have you thought about collaborating with Tim Burton?

Sure. But has he thought about collaborating with me? I don't know! Let me call him up and ask. Hold on. Got another call. Oh, drat, it's Scorsese again. I gotta take this.

Those are all the FAQs I can think up at the moment! As always, if you have other questions, use the form and ask away.

I've written a book.

GUESS WHAT ELSE.

I've gotten a deal with the Knopf imprint of Random House for two middle grade children's novels.

GUESS WHAT ELSE ELSE.

I'm illustrating them too.

This, of course, means you'll have to read them or, at the very least, put them out on the coffee table for company. But that day is still some time off - possibly later in 2011 for the first one - so here's a little info to salivate over in the mean time.

The first book is tentatively titled The Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow. It's not quite finished, but I can tell you with certainty that it will fulfill your wishes for disappearing people, frightful things in the woods, cursed towns and dark, dark times. And then there are the children.

The children in this tale are a bit different from the Childrin you're used to; they're older for one thing, and they've got a whole new kind of oddness about them. Oh, but I think you'll like them. I'm not sure I'd want to cross their paths if you didn't is all I'm saying.

As I mentioned above, you've still got quite a wait ahead of you, but you'll undoubtedly hear me talking about it here, there and everywhere along the way. You're welcome to talk about it here, there and everywhere along the way too! I wouldn't dare stop you.

(You know where else to find updates, don't you? Of course you do. It's only for those other people that I'm mentioning Twitter and Facebook)

I'm currently hard at work on a new bunch of illustrations featuring older Childrin. No immediate plans for new animations, but when I have the time, you shall be the first to know.

I'm also working on a picture book based on When Genevieve Ruled the World as well as a Childrin R Skary children's novel that is completely new and different from anything you've seen heretofore. But in the mean time, there will be illustrations and blog posts and Twitterings and Facebookings and everything else. So, do come back. There very well may be something new the next time you're here.