Joey Fajardo radiates positive energy, likes to talk and has a talent for drawing. It's hard to believe he didn't speak until he was 4.

"He didn't speak at all," said Fely, his mother, adding that when Joey finally spoke he used complete sentences. He also began drawing.

Since then, the 12-year-old Brentwood resident has been busy thinking up and drawing his own cartoon characters, giving them names such as Frank Weirdo, Rap Penguin, Wonder Weasel and Super Cat.

"He has hundreds of books with drawings inside," said Fely.

"I like this one," said Joey last week after attending an hour-long art class at the Women's Club House in Brentwood. He pointed to his drawing titled "Dr. Gill," depicting a fishbowl containing a mustachioed fish that looks both stern and thoughtful. In one fin, the doctoral fish holds a spiral notebook, the other holds a pencil.

"When I draw I think of the Simpsons. I think the TV show is really funny and it makes me laugh," said Joey while he touched up an old drawing with some penciled lines. "I want to create a TV show and make it more fun than Family Guy and the Simpsons."

In another drawing, he creatively incorporated his name in the character. A picture titled "Jongo" is a peace-signing monkey whose tail takes the shape of Joey's name.

"He puts together things that don't normally go together," said Nancy Roberts, his art teacher. "Joey has an amazingly quick imagination and it is all completely original."

"I draw whatever comes to mind," said Joey as he began sketching. "I am going to draw Abraham Lincoln now."

In just a few minutes he drew the tall ex-president with a waving American flag in one hand. He signed it, dated it and smiled.

"His teachers really try to channel him," said Fely as Joey was drawing. "He draws almost every minute."

Joey's talent earned him an award from school a few years ago for a comic book story called "Super Cat" about a feline that saved the world.

"What I liked about it was that the drawings are abstract," said Fely, adding that Joey's ideas are outside the box. "Drawing is important to him."

A student at Holy Rosary Catholic School in Antioch, Joey hopes to attend the Academy of Art in San Francisco someday.

His advice to other aspiring artists is "Stick to what you know."