About the author: Michael Priddis
About the author: Michael Priddis is a husband and father; an author, artist and illustrator; and an over-all nice guy.
I like art!
Hey there! My name is Michael Priddis. I am the author and illustrator of the books you see on pzign.com.
When I was young I sketched and doodled a lot. Art was my favorite subject in school. Many years have passed and today I draw more or less as a hobby, because I love it. It always makes me happy to finish a project and share it.
Over the years I tried lots of different types of art. I sketched with pencil and ink, oil painted, I even created sculptures and crafts. It wasn’t until I purchased Adobe Photoshop that I realized what I truly loved. I love computer graphic design. When I discovered Adobe Illustrator, it was as though I had died and gone to heaven. I could spend day and night drawing on Adobe Illustrator. It is one of my most favorite things in the world to do.
How did I start creating books?
Starting to write books was kind of a long and winding road. After discovering photoshop, I started building websites and drawing images for those websites. Then I started drawing clipart and images for t-shirts and other products. At some point I got into my head it would be funny to do some animated potty training videos using poop characters. After I had drawn a few of them, I realized a complementary children’s book would be nice. After making my first few books I realized I really enjoyed the process of writing and illustrating books. So, I decided to to become a children’s author.
Why children’s books?
I have 3 kids. We have read thousands and thousands of books at bed time. I always favored the books that were rich in illustrations. Even still, one of my favorite books to ready to my kids was Pony Brushes His Teeth. The book is short, simple, funny and has great illustrations. I love bright bold fun illustrations.
What is pzign?
Do you think the name UCANPOO is good? There was a point in time I thought it was a good name. That is what I named all of my potty training books and videos. But, it didn’t take long to realize as soon as I wanted to make a book that wasn’t about potty training, it wasn’t going to be a very effective name. So, I rebranded everything with the name pzign, which is a play on Priddis Design.
This has made it easier to create lots of different types of books: early education books, potty training books, alphabet rainbow books, religious books, peek-a-boo books, holiday books and more.
A bit more about me
I married my wife Nicole in 1999. We were unable to have children without some help. We had our daughter Madilynn by doing IVF (In Vitro Fertilization). That was a very amazing, miraculous, inspiring, and a difficult process. But, it only worked once. We wanted more children so we tried adoption. There seemed to be so many road blocks and costs we simply could not afford at the time. Our dear friends Adam and Carrol invited us to investigate Utah Foster Care. Through Foster Care we were able to adopt our two young boys, Isaiah and Robbie.
Being the dad to these three kids is exciting and fun. My days are full of ups and downs. At the end of each day, I often find myself relaxing on the couch with my laptop enjoy a few hours of peace and quite while I draw another book.
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.