Congratulations,
Natalie Waskel
2017
Jean Bryan
Magnificent
Marketer Award
Winner
Natalie Waskel- Marketing Manager
to create.
“It’s tricky to have your own style
without being derivative,” he said.
“My style is different enough and the
editor likes it. For the Simpsons they
have several artists who do different
styles. It’s a trend I’ve noticed lately.”
For some comics like Garfield,
DeGrand draws based on a preset
story line. But when it comes to
SpongeBob and The Simpsons,
DeGrand does more than draw the
character, he creates the story and
writes the copy.
“Writing can be intimidating,”
he said. “Especially The Simpsons,
something I hold in such high
esteem.”
When he’s in need of a fresh
set of eyes and ears, he calls in his
5-year-old son, Alex, to test his copy
and see how he can improve it for a
younger audience.
DeGrand and his wife, Kathy, live
with their two sons in Weatherford.
The couple met while in high school
and worked together in the old
movie theater formerly located in the
Weatherford square. His next artistic
venture is writing and drawing his
own graphic novel.
“I’m combining my love for
cheesy monster movies and goofy
cartoons and my love of B movies,”
DeGrand said. “I’m pulling a lot of
my interest into this story idea. I’m
writing it right now. Then I’ll tweak,
draw and color. It will be at least a
year until it sees the light of day.”
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