Call me Mike

Put a kid in a room alone with nothing but pencils, paper, his own imagination and you get me.

By normal standards I should be an anti-social home pest exterminator by day and WWF fan by night. But I'm not. I'm a cartoonist and for two reasons: I could not hit the curve but I could hit a nerve.

I am classically trained to be able to find the classical station when I need to. Beyond that, I've been making it up since I was in that room alone.

Truth is, God was in there with me just like he is today and we've managed to knock out some pretty decent work in a number of different areas working with some incredibly talented people and for some great clients.

There are more wooden plaques on the wall than I ever imagined. All of them spelled my name right and frankly, I deserve them. But my beautiful wife, my two children, Mom, cat and completely untrainable dog I do not deserve. They are simply a blessing for which I am thankful everyday.

• 2000 National Cartoonist Society: Best Book Illustration
  
• 2004 National Cartoonist Society: Best Advertising Illustration
• 2006 National Cartoonist Society: Best Book Illustration
• 2008 National Cartoonist Society: Best Book Illustration
• 2010 National Cartoonist Society: Best Book Illustration
• 2003 Georgia Press Association Designer of the Year
• 2007 and 2010 recipient Sigma Delta Chi Award for editorial cartoons given by the Society of Professional Journalists.
• "A is for Salad" written/illustrated by Mike Lester New York Times Top 10 Children's Book in 2000.