Kevin’s Personal History
Kevin was born on a farm in central Illinois in 1969. His first drawings were of the sheep, pigs, 
and other farm animals and birds that surrounded his little house in the country. His love of artwork inspired him to participate in local art fairs as a caricature artist at the young age of 12. As he grew, he found journalism to be the ideal combination of storytelling and art. He started out in Illinois at the Daily Vidette drawing a daily political cartoon. His work as a cartoonist drew him into the editorial board meetings, and into almost every aspect of the newspaper. Later, working at the Michigan Daily, he broadened his knowledge of print journalism; editing, writing, illustrating and designing for almost every section of the paper.
First traveling out of the country as an exchange student, Kevin spent six months in Nicaragua studying Spanish, participating in community projects, painting murals and writing his undergraduate dissertation. Upon graduating, Kevin, and carloads of his friends and fellow graduates headed west to San Francisco.
Unlike many after him, Kevin entirely missed the dot.com explosion. Shortly after arriving in San Francisco, he began working with West Coast artists who believed that artwork was about communication and storytelling. With these artists who became known as the ‘Visual Practitioners,’ Kevin created large murals for clients all over the world. Kevin now travels to meetings from Sacramento to the Swiss Alps with rolls of paper and markers to help companies make sense of complex ideas in an inspiring way. Kevin is still developing this field and honing his talents as a partner in visual communications company, Visual Ink, LLC.
In addition to maintaining his own clients, Kevin reached out to a group of students in the Bay Area
public schools. At Balboa High School in San Francisco, and Fremont High School in Oakland, Kevin volunteered to teach and manage a group of students who formed their own student-business; URBAN Visionary. Kevin’s students worked with a wide variety of clients across California, from Poway Unified School District to Bayview Toxics Coalition.
Kevin has developed a distinct style as an artist, exhibiting his work in galleries and museums throughout the Bay Area. When creating a body of work, whether local bands, birds or circuses, Kevin often develops an intimate relationship with his subjects, following them into marshes, and behind the Big Top.
Kevin chose to study watercolor in 1997 based on his lifelong dream to illustrate children’s books. As his watercolor style has matured, Kevin has again mixed writing with his artwork. His first collection of poems appeared at Coyote Point Museum in 2000 in his solo exhibit, Poems in the Air. He is currently authoring a number of books about birds, circuses and crazy kings. Look for them in the near future!
Although Kevin had expected his publishing work and his business would be separate, his first two books, World Café, and Virtuoso Teams were published based on close working relationships Kevin developed with senior consultants, Juanita Brown, Dr. Andy Boynton, and Dr. Bill Fischer. Kevin is delighted that his business colleagues have been ‘marquees’ for his dreams.
Kevin’s Current Story
Currently, author John Lipp and Kevin have teamed up to write Aunt Imelda’s Dinosaur Stew, & Other Things AIDS Doesn’t Stand For. Working in community organizations battling the AIDS pandemic, John Lipp and Kevin have seen the disease from hundreds of angles. As writers, Kevin and John were shocked to realize there is currently no picture book on the market that appropriately introduces the reality of living in a world with AIDS.
As a result, John and Kevin created Aunt Imelda, and her 500 – word picture book for ages 5 – 10 that gently introduces children to the basic concepts of AIDS. Aunt Imelda reinforces the importance of compassion and understanding, approaching the subject through a whimsical background story of Aunt Imelda cooking a mighty feast for her dinosaur, human, and canine friends.
Kevin and John and currently in the process of finding the right publisher for Aunt Imelda, and, at the same time, developing resources for classrooms and parents.
Kevin’s Current Stories
Look for Aunt Imelda and more picture books from Kevin over the next several years. An up-to-date portfolio of Kevin’s published books, and manuscripts for submission is posted on this site under ‘stories.’ One of Kevin’s main focuses will be to begin publishing the long list of manuscripts he has been developing. In the traditional publishing world, Kevin looks forward to publishing picture books, chapter books, and even comics. A complete list of Kevin’s manuscripts and proposals is on this website under Kevin’s Stories.
Exciting Experiment
Thanks to modern printers and the internet, publishing has never been easier. For Kevin, that means that his non-traditional picture books will also become available. How it works is that, working with powerful online publishing engines like lulu.com, Kevin can develop and publish his stories today.
For example, The Flower Boy and the Origami Christmas Tree, featured throughout kevinwoodson.com, is a compelling short picture-poem book in Japanese and English. In its pages, mysterious flower paintings lead us through a journey where origami comes to life, a bonsai Christmas tree connects cultures, and children around the world play with magical creatures.
In the past, the 40 copies Kevin and his partner Matthew printed as Christmas presents would have delighted friends, but there would have been no way to share this story with the world. Now, you can see for yourself, and, if you like, purchase a digital or printed copy of this book online today. Kevin has set up a separate website specifically for The Flower Boy and the Origami Christmas Tree, with complete details about the book, and links to lulu.com, online publishers.
And this is really exciting! We hope many people enjoy The Flower Boy, and the countless short, poetic stories Kevin plans to release over the next several years. Be sure to check kevinsbookshop.com for up-to-date information, and links to The Flower Boy and future books as they come out.
Kevin currently keeps his life up to date on his blog, The King of Kook dot com, where he posts weekly entries about current art projects and exciting local events. Also featured on the blog is a weekly comic strip, The King of Kook, (curiously related to an upcoming children’s book, also titled The King of Kook, and so on).
Recently Kevin has become a volunteer at global-literacy focused NGO Room to Read. Working with the Local Language Publishing program, Kevin and program coordinator, Kelly Morphy, are supporting seven countries across Asia and Africa. This year (2007), between all seven countries, Room to Read will publish 91 titles in 11 different languages. All books are written and illustrated by local authors and artists.
Kevin lives in Oakland, California on the shores of Lake Merritt. He and his partner, Matthew Matsuyama, enjoy the flowers, ducks, community murals, and weekly farmer's market there.