Cedric’s tried just about everything from children’s books to animation, to inking comic books to advertising art, to designing toys. Now brace yourself, this list of end clients includes Hasbro, Disney, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Verizon, and Hewlett-Packard. And through all of these years, Cedric can say that he’s found his strength in concept design – developing cartoon characters, toys, and other products aimed at children’s markets. Quite often he collaborates with ad agencies on concept work to help pitch ideas to clients.

He works mostly on the computer, drawing directly into Photoshop with his Cintiq and only occasionally will create vector art if the client requires it. To keep his work fresh, Cedric discusses in his interview below, he has recently started keeping a sketchbook to try new things and to avoid getting in a rut with his work.

Cedric has an interesting blog too, with everything from product reviews, tech updates and of course exciting updates to his portfolio. Check it out and follow him on Twitter and Facebook for the latest.

How have you got to where you are today?

I like what Al Hirschfeld said: “All children draw, I just never stopped”.

I studied illustration in college and began freelancing for some local companies while I was still in school. After graduating I wanted to keep doing it so I worked part-time jobs for two-and-a-half years until I built up enough clients do freelance full-time. I’ve now been running my own illustration studio for fifteen years.

In a few words, describe yourself…

I’m a husband, father, animation junkie, and practicing to be a deadline ninja.

What are you spending your time on at the moment?

I’ve currently got several client projects on my plate. I recently finished some concept illustrations for a local advertising agency to help them pitch some ideas to a major beverage company. I’m also working on some packaging illustrations for a major toy company (sorry, the confidentiality clause in my contract prevents me from being more specific).

I’m doing some illustrations for a small business website, I’m designing a mascot for a chain of swimming schools, and I’m about to start creating some artwork for an Android/iPad game.

Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?

Lately I’ve been trying to do a better job of keeping a sketchbook, to keep practicing and trying new things. I don’t want to fall into a rut, I want to keep learning and growing as an artist.

My goal is to either sketch for an hour or fill a page in my sketchbook each day, whichever comes first.

What or who inspires you?

I love studying animation character designers. Current guys like Stephen Silver, Peter de Seve, Carter Goodrich, Nico Marlet, etc as well as past greats such as Milt Kahl, Jack Davis, Glen Keane, Iwao Takamoto, etc. I also use Google Reader to follow a few dozen art blogs. When I’m getting ready to sketch I’ll start by browsing the latest posts to see what other inspirational work is out there.

What are you most proud of?

I’ve been privileged to work on many fun and exciting projects, but the one I am happiest about is a cartoon Gospel tract I illustrated for a Christian ministry called Living Waters. To date over five million copies have been distributed in English and it’s been translated into over twenty languages. In 2010 we did an animated version and so far it’s received over 350,000 views on YouTube. It’s exciting and very humbling to see how well it’s been received. The tract is copyright-free, you can read it and get more info here.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a super hero but that’s a really hard field to break into. For a while I considered entering the ministry, but I’ve always loved to draw and I had a terrific art teacher in high school (Mr. Jeff Pridie) who really taught me a lot. So pursuing art was a natural fit.