Known by family as Monty, James Montgomery Flagg said in his autobiography "Roses and Buckshot" that he began drawing at the age of two, though “not very well.” When he was 12, the national magazine "St. Nicholas" published one of his illustrations for $10, and by the time he was 16 he had become part of the paid staff of both "Life" and "Judge" magazines. As a teenager, he had no interest in formal education, and much preferred the company of adults to his peers.
