By Alicia Nemiccolo MacLeay '97

If Gumdrops Fell Like Raindrops Written by Thalia Marakas with illustrator Ben Griffin '02 TM Publishing (2000)

Griffin showed Marakas a few doodles, illustrated three trial poems and was hired for If Gumdrops Fell Like Raindrops. . . . "She gave me all the poems and I had to come up with an illustration for each one," said Griffin, who used color pencils and a black pen to create each vivid and imaginative drawing.

Griffin had already developed his own style but modified it slightly--adding brighter colors--to appeal to children. "I grew up reading tons of children's books and I went off what I remembered I liked when I was little," he said.

To tie together the 48 poems, with subjects from adoption and race to tonsils and siblings, Griffin created Wilson--a faceless black and white line figure--to visually guide the reader through the text. Amid Griffin's original and occasionally psychedelic art, Wilson can be seen swinging on a trapeze, riding a fish or relaxing in a daffodil.

"I'd love to do it again," Griffin said of the project. An anthropology major, he hasn't taken an art class since, but continues to draw constantly. "Mostly in class," he joked.