Been Winter was my first book, and in many ways I was still nailing down my art style. If I were to redraw some of them, I'd do some things differently now. I have made a few revisions.

This book introduced the fishbowl as a recurring theme. Years ago, I tried to come up with some cartoons for an aquarium magazine. I came to the conclusion that I had no idea how to write aquarium cartoons, so having these fish jokes keep coming to me is a surprise. When I finish one, I tend to think I'll never come up with another one, but they keep popping up every now and then. It's nice since they're fairly easy to draw.

Been Winter also introduced the kid in the coonskin cap. Originally, he wasn't meant to even be the same kid in each cartoon. By book two I gave up trying to have him be a different kid each time.

If you look for it, the leaf on the cover of Been Winter can be found in a few of the cartoons.

from The Big Cartoon Collection