SANDPOINT – Artistic collaboration can be a dicey business in the best of circumstances. For nearly five months, one local writer and his Japanese illustrator counterpart have been stretching the boundaries of creative teamwork as they traded snippets of text and sketches via Skype and e-mail between Sandpoint and Tokyo.

Despite the distance, they have managed to give form to the main character in a children’s book that, when complete, will bear the title, “Kule Cat.” The people behind the cat in question met face-to-face for the first time last week, as visual artist Eriko Yamada arrived to work directly with author Tim Martin on storyboards and colorization of sketches.

“We’re at the tipping point right now,” said Martin, explaining the timing of Yamada’s visit. “We’ve been doing a lot of ‘what-iffing’ and now we’re going to get down to work.”

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