Robert Lettrick.com
Author - Illustrator - Squirrel Whisperer
About Me(the long-ish version)
My love of superheroes started early.
That's me on the right at the age of nine, my first media appearance in the Albany Times Union. If you look closely, you'll see I drew an alligator in a bathing suit and a wig popping out of a cake for some reason. Weird kid.
For as long as I can remember, I've loved stories. All kinds of stories told in all kinds of ways. That love began with Saturday morning cartoons, especially The Super Friends. Obsessed with superheroes, I began collecting comics at the age of five, and continued to buy them even after my collection of over ten thousand comics was turned into ash in a house fire. I knew at a very early age that I wanted to grow up to be a comic book artist.
Me at twenty-one, graduation day, bright-eyed and bushy-haired.
In 1994, I graduated from a liberal arts college with a BA in Fine Art. That winter I interned at Marvel Comics in Manhattan under two X-Men editors. While I have a ton of memories from that experience, the most vivid would have to be opening a package with an exacto knife to discover I'd accidentally sliced through original X-Men cover art drawn by one of the biggest stars in the industry. And then I smeared it with panic sweat.
Despite the X-acto X-Men X-cident, Marvel offered me a freelance penciling gig which led to additional work for Marvel Films and Harris Publications. After my time at MarveI, I decided to enroll in Savannah College of Art and Design's brand-new sequential art MA program to hone my craft.
During my time at SCAD, I had the privilege of studying under several industry professionals including Mike Mignola (Hellboy) and the late Mike Wieringo (Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Telos).
After leaving SCAD, I got a job managing an art gallery where I represented the work of over 300 amazing local artists. In my free time, I continued drawing comics.
When an artist at the gallery introduced me to a fantastic new children's book series, I reconnected with my love of middle-grade literature.
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June 2021
Dressed for Success!
Between 2009 and 2011, I wrote two books and accepted an offer from a literary agent. In 2013, my agent sold my third and fourth novels to Disney, helping me achieve my goal of becoming a published author.
Frenzy, a story about rabid animals invading a summer camp in Washington state, was published in 2014 and The Murk, a mystery set in the Okefenokee Swamp, hit bookstore shelves in 2015.
Since then, I've written a fifth novel, revised an earlier project, and started a sixth. I also collaborated with actress Tami Stronach on a book sequel to her 1984 movie, The Neverending Story, in which Tami played the iconic Childlike Empress. The Neverending Story was one of my favorite childhood films and working with Tami was a dream come true.
My latest project is a return to my humor-adventure roots, and the first book I'm illustrating myself, incorporating the skills I acquired as a comic book artist.
Rest assured, I'll continue telling the stories I love (and hopefully you'll love, too) through as many mediums as possible.