David Hernandez is a published author and artist with a sereis of children's books as well as a creative consultant with many years in the entertainment industry - working with major studios such as Disney, Lucasfilm, Nickelodeon, Nintendo and Universal Studios. Hernandez started off as an illustrator and designer for Disney, eventually becoming a concept designer, which he describes as basically
being in a room all day with coffee and Legos, coming up with great new ideas. David does similar work for other studios on a contracted basis. While in his twenties, David's studies and search for knowledge brought him to Christianity. As a member of the Entertainment world, David began to search for faith based products he would enjoy. Only finding a few brands he enjoyed, David decided to use his experience and knowledge of the industry to create products for children that were of the same quality as what he was used to producing through Disney -- but with Christian values! The primary result of this was 'The Adventures of Toby Digz" and "Apollo Jettix" series for children which was inspired by David’s interests in history, archaeology, puzzles, ancient civilizations, and the Bible. David says that for Toby Digz (which he classifies as Scooby-Doo meets Indiana Jones in the world of the Bible), he wanted to have children experience the Bible from a smart kid’s point of view. He goes on to explain that “Toby Digz is basically me as a boy with all my curiosity and all the wonder that I had with the Bible, and he's bringing that to a new audience. That's my goal. Toby Digz is the kind of kid who wants to absorb everything, he loves input, he loves to discover.”
As far as future projects, David says he has 16 Toby Digz books planned. He working on a project for teenagers—a Narnia / Lord of the Rings type world that deals with Christianity and morals. It will bring modern-day teenagers into an imaginary world of biblical principles…and shows how these five teenagers change as people when they come back to the real world. He recently completed a beautiful Classic Christmas Picture Book and he is also working on a screenplay and storyboards for an animated Christian Christmas story. David, his wife Shannon, and their two children live in Orlando, Florida. David likes to spend his free time strolling through parks and wooded trails with his iPad. And he can always be found in the corner of a Library or bookstore with a Starbuck's Venti Mocha and his trusty laptop. "I just love to dream out loud!"
Information from an interview with Christianbook.com
