Meet Phil Yeh | Author & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Phil Yeh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Phil, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I guess if we think of taking risks as something dangerous, I am not sure that I took a risk when I started my professional career as an artist at the age of 16 in 1970. I had been drawing since I was two. My father gave me computer paper from work with old programs printed on one side. The other side was a blank canvas and was absolutely perfect for making pictures with my pencils and crayons. When I entered elementary school in New Jersey, I was already an accomplished artist, at least according to my first grade teacher, Mrs. North. She believed in my talent and always told me that I would be a famous artist someday.

When I moved at the age of 6 to Los Angeles, I continued to draw. By this time I was also painting with watercolors. My father was an aerospace engineer and told me that I should be an engineer. But I could not do math and I could not spell. As the eldest son of 4 kids, my dad’s influence should have steered me to engineering but I just continued to make pictures. The summer of 1970 when I was 15, my friend Shane Noguchi, thought I should attend a comic book convention in San Diego. My father drove me and my youngest sister Kathy down where I would meet Ray Bradbury and Jack Kirby. Ray was a favorite author of mine and I told him that I wanted to be a writer but I could not spell. He said, “Just write. They have editors who will correct your spelling and grammar.” I then told Jack that my friend Shane thinks I should be a comic book artist but I really did not read comics. My dad stood behind me as I asked Jack what college I should go to to become a comic book artist? Jack replied, there are no colleges for comic book artists. “Just do it.”

A couple months later I turned 16 and founded my own publishing company. We are still publishing books. In 1985. after interviewing Wally “Famous” Amos and learning about the tremendous illiteracy crisis in America, I formed Cartoonists Across America. Our goal was to use cartoons to call attention to this serious issue. Charles Schulz, creator of Peanuts, was the first cartoonist to endorse our work. As we traveled around the entire country, we painted giant cartoon murals with my reading dinosaurs and the slogan, “Read. Avoid Extinction.” First Lady Barbara Bush painted with us in The Library of Congress. She also wrote three forewords to my books.

In 1990, we added And the World to our banner and went to Budapest, Hungary with cartoonists from 40 nations. We created a mural there and the government issued a postage stamp featuring a painting of my dinosaurs for the international year of literacy as declared by the United Nations. We have painted well over 2000 murals in 49 U.S. States and 18 other countries. We continue in 2024 to appear at schools, libraries, and public places throughout the world.

Truth be told, I never think about risk. Just go for it. Follow your heart. Do what makes you feel really happy.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am still creating art every single day. I get up each morning before the sun and go to my studio and paint or draw. I am usually working on two or three books at once. Sometimes it can take years to finish one and sometimes I produce a book in a few months. Time is not important to me. I just follow my heart and create what I feel like. I created one of the first graphic novels in 1977. “Even Cazco Gets The Blues” was one of the first in this new medium in the United States. The term graphic novel was coined by my friend Richard Kyle in 1964 at a science fiction convention. Richard believed that comic books should have a beginning, middle and end and be printed on good paper and sold in regular bookstores. When I met Richard in Long Beach California in 1972, I had just started my college life at California State University Long Beach. Richard had just opened a bookstore downtown. We became fast friends and I actually got on a ladder and painted his sign. Richard always talked about graphic novels and in 1977 I would publish one of the first. That started me off on a spree of graphic novels that continues to this day. In 2025 I will publish a brand new Frank the Unicorn book. Frank started off in 1980 and has starred in many books.

Was it easy? It was because I self-publish I never had to wait for someone else to like an idea that I came up with. After making the book, you then have to market it. Selling the book is much harder now because independent bookstores in this country are very rare. But I still publish and do book signings all over the country.

What I want all young people to consider when creating their own stories is being original. It doesn’t matter what you are trying to say, just be original. Speak from the heart. If your book is good, it will find an audience but you must learn to market yourself. Start local and then go bigger and bigger.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If people visit us in the mountains where we live. I take them to hike in the woods! There are so many great places to visit.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would dedicate my Cartoonists Across America & The World Tour to Wally “Famous” Amos. His work with literacy began in Los Angeles at my branch library. When he told me this in 1985, I knew right there that I had found my purpose.

Website: https://www.wingedtiger.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/philyeh.artist.3