Each week, an accomplished published author takes over the YEM Twitter account. Each week, the YA author will answer questions, tell stories, and give advice on our social media. This week young adult author, illustrator, and artist Jess Smart Smiley will be taking over our Twitter account.

Jess Smart Smiley makes amazing pictures with his bare hands. He has worked with companies such as Disney Pixar, Cartoon Network, Provo City, and Top Shelf Publishing. His latest book is called Let’s Make Comics!

Let’s Make Comics! is alight-hearted interactive guide to comics and cartoon-making that uses an activity book format and creatively stimulating prompts to teach the fundamentals of cartooning in a fun and easy-to-follow format.A working cartoonist and comic book making instructor, Jess Smart Smiley brings not only talent but out of this world creativity. He uses humorous and informative one-page comics and exercise prompts to guide young readers through easy-to-master lessons on the skills needed to make comics. Activities cover a range of essential comics-making tasks from creating expressions for characters to filling in blank panels to creating original characters and placing them in adventures of their own. Each exercise can stand on its own or work together with others in the book to stimulate creativity via the comics medium. In the end, readers who complete the activities inside the book itself will have created several comics of their own, and will have generated many ideas for more sequential art creations.

To follow along with this week’s Twitter takeover, follow our Twitter account @YoungEntmag and follow the hashtag #YAAUTHORTAKEOVER