 McCay came to be known by his middle name , Winsor . His drawing skills emerged early . According to a story told within the family , McCay made his first drawing in the aftermath of one of the many fires that hit Spring Lake : he picked up a nail and etched the scene of the fire in the frost of a <unk> . Drawing became obsessive for him ; he drew anything he saw , and the level of detail and accuracy in his drawing was noted at a young age . He was able to draw accurately from memory even things he had never before drawn — what McCay called " memory sketching " . His father thought little of his son 's artistic talents , though , and had him sent to Cleary Business College in Ypsilanti , Michigan . McCay rarely attended classes . He bragged about how he would catch the train to Detroit to show off his drawing skills at the Wonderland and Eden Musee dime museum . He drew portraits there for 25 ¢ apiece , of which he kept half . 
