Craft worked for twelve years as a copywriter for various advertising agencies, during which time he also got his first comics work on projects for
Marvel Comics and
Harvey Comics. Moving on to
King Features Syndicate, Craft spent eight years writing sales brochures. This connection with King Features led to the syndication of Craft's ''Mama's Boyz'' beginning in 1995. Craft later worked as editorial director of the
Sports Illustrated for Kids website where he was nominated for a New Media Award by the National Cartoonists Society for his series of popular Flash cartoons. He left that job in October 2006 to become a full-time cartoonist. Craft performs regular cartooning workshops at schools, camps, and libraries. On January 27, 2020,
New Kid was awarded the
Newbery Medal, becoming the first graphic novel to receive this honor.
New Kid also won the
2020 Coretta Scott King Author Award and the
Kirkus Prize.
''Mama's Boyz'' ''Mama's Boyz'' follows the lives of African American single mother Pauline Porter and her two teenage sons Tyrell and Yusuf. Other characters include Pauline's brother Greg and their parents. ''Mama's Boyz
is the outgrowth of a prior strip called The Outside View,
which Craft first self-syndicated in 1987. In 1990, he adapted some elements of The Outside View
to create Mama's Boyz'', which he self-syndicated to New York's
The City Sun and eventually a number of other weekly papers across the country. In 1995, ''Mama's Boyz'' was picked up for weekly syndication by King Features. The book is a partially autobiographical coming of age novel. As one of the few African-American students at his school, Jordan has to face daily microagressions. == Personal life ==