Frankie B. Washington

Interview with artist Frankie B. Washington

How did Marooned on Mogo Come About?
2009 - Spring, I answered an ad on http://www.digitalwebbing.com for a children book illustrator. I've always been fascinated with the genre yet my attempts in the past to try and get a job doing such work never came to fruition. MY thought when I sent my reply to the ad was that I was most likely not getting the gig. As a professional illustrator you have to be a realist when approaching any new potential clients- there's a 50/50 chance every time.
Well my odds turned into 100%, because Andrew S. Leiter chose me over 95 other artist to try and launch his newest title: Marooned On Mogo.

I asked Andrew where the concept came for the story- so here's his quote :
"Originally, I did not have desire to write an easy reader book. I was encouraged by a pre-school teacher and my wife because of a discussion they had. They had both come to the conclusion that there was not enough easy readers books geared for boys and tons for girls. Then shortly after that, I had two other people totally out of the blue state suggest that I write for young kids. So the Seed was planted.

I don't recall exactly how I came up with the idea Marooned on Mogo. I knew I always wanted to do a story about people being stranded on another planet. I decided to pick four kids Two boys and two girls because I knew it would appeal to both sexes of readers. I came up with the Clark Lewis name because of the famous explorers Lewis and Clark. Than I just named the other three kids with names that started with C's and of Course Lewis was their last name. Next, I thought about what appealed to kids. Pirates, dragons, dinosaurs, treasure, alien creatures cute and aggressive and incorporated them into the story."

When I saw the script, I immediately thought about Johnny Quest and Lost In Space. I could totally see everything in an animated way but definitely high adventure with a strong message of family as the strength of the story. My hope is that my illustrations help to amplify Andrew's story and in the end become something memorable for our readers.

Marooned on Mogo is available through Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com you can reach it through our website : http://www.maroonedonmogo.com