- A Strange Creature by Henry Aesoph -
Sometime in May 2004, I received the following email:
My name is Henry Aesoph and I am an 8th grader at Coupeville Middle School in Coupeville, Washington on Whidbey Island. The school is participating in an annual "Job Shadow Day", in which students spend about four hours with someone who works in a profession that the student wants to pursue.
I would love working with you because I love drawing horribly malformed animals and flora, and I love your comic, "Zed".
I responded that I would be happy to do it. And so, on Friday, May 21st (2004), Henry's parents dropped him off at my house which also happens to be my studio. The captive youth spent a few hours looking over my shoulder while I was working on my latest projects. He got a sneak peak at some of the pre-production artwork I'm currently doing for Disney and Cartoon Network as well as a special preview of my upcoming book Odd Numbers.
Henry seems determined to have a career as an artist and his work looks promising.
A couple of weeks after our meeting, Henry sent me the following email, which convinced me that he was really jazzed by the whole experience
Hi Michel!
Sorry that this message is horribly belated, but I just wanted to thank you for letting me "Shadow" you. Of course, it was so much more than a "shadow"; working with you was one of the most amazing things in my life (also the fact that you gave me a signed ZED volume 1 was really quite undeniably cool). Enclosed as another form of thanks is a little drawing I did on Photoshop [posted above] - hope you enjoy it.
- Horribly huge masses 'o thanks,
Henry Aesoph