Cloudy with a Chance of Ron Barrett
This past weekend my wife and I were more than excited to catch up with some of our best Madison and Chicago friends at the wedding of my buddy, Elliott (who I've known since sixth grade) and his beautiful wife, Rebecca. I've had some great times with Elliott and Rebecca, but many of those times were at Pitchfork Music Fest where it's kinda hard to get to know your friend's girlfriend over the sound of squealing guitars and too-loud neon headbands ("Neon Headbands," hey, that could be the name of a band reviewed on Pitchfork!). So I had no idea that her father was the one and only, Ron Barrett.
As his bio states, Ron Barrett is the internationally bestselling illustrator of many books for children, including Superhero Joe, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Pickles to Pittsburgh, Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, and Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House. His illustrations have been honored by the Society of Illustrators and have been exhibited at The Louvre in Paris. He lives in New York City.
Ron is also someone I've admired for some time, especially for his work with National Lampoon (as Ron refers to it, "when it was really good"--he says he "later became the magazine's art director and funeral director"). Here's a sample:
Having loved his illustration and amazing sense of humor, when my wife and I began planning our anthology of prose, interviews, and comics about beds, The Way We Sleep, Ron was, I believe, the second or third person I contacted to solicit for a piece to include in the book. He was definitely one of the first to respond. And what a generous response. He offered to develop one piece, sending sketches and pencils along the way for editorial approval (I would've approved if he sneezed in a cocktail napkin and sent it our way). Then when he had finished the several page long, full color comic, he offered to create another original piece for the book.
The wine flowed, the Wisconsin cheese and sausage appetizers amazed, and the wedding was beautiful (despite the day drifting back and forth from stormy to drizzly). And Ron was, of course, gracious and generous, spending time on the day of his daughter's wedding to ask in depth about how the book's sales were going and how we were doing. Of course, I waited until my eyes were red with exhaustion and wine, my tie was disheveled, and the night was coming to an end to ask to snatch a snapshot. But Ron still looks dapper.
From left to right: Ron Barrett; Beautiful wife; Guy who doesn't know how to tie a tie
You can check out the two amazing comics Ron gave us for, like, absolutely no reason other than he's the swellest of guys in The Way We Sleep! And, obviously, go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 in theaters!