Illustration Friday: Trouble

I've missed a couple of weeks and thought I'd better do something about it. This was a really quick one. I figured I'd stick with a Halloween theme and do something that would go along with IF topic and also the Gallery O' Terror. Acrylic on paper.

Gallery O' Terror- Frank (update)

I finished my Frankenstien painting. It turned out better than I thought it would. There was a time during the "ugly" stage that Frank about got trashed, but he pulled through. Why is he holding a piece of chicken? Beats me. It just happened to show up in the drawing. Everybody loves fried chicken, right? Anyway, the painting looks even better in my Frankenstien frame. I took a new frame and broke it into pieces. Then I bolted, screwed, nailed, wired the thing back together. It turned out pretty cool. If I can figure out where my camera went I'll take some pictures of it to post. Enjoy.



Okay, I found the camera. These aren't the best photos, but I think you get the idea. It looks better in person.

Gallery O' Terror- Witch

This was a morning sketch I did the other day that I liked, so I had to paint it up. I'm thinking I might need to do a whole series of witches, but first I need to finish painting Frankenstien, but first I better do my real jobs. Bummer. I'm running out of spare time. Gotta work faster.

Hog

This is a recent painting I did for a good friend who asked me to do a t-shirt design. He owns the local Harley-Davidson dealership. It was a fun project to work on. Acrylic on paper.

Sketchin' 2

Here are a few recent pages from my new little sketchbook.

Illustration Friday: Phobia

Waytoosweetcritterophobia- Fear of little those overly-sweet little critters with the big, wet, dewey eyes.

Come on, there is something seriously freaky about those things.

Halloween Time

It's getting close. Time to get some Gallery of Terror stuff going. Here is a sketch I did this morning. I'll paint it up when I get a chance.

A pirates life for me!

So, we went to Disneyland last week. That's a long time away from the the studio and the blogs. It was loads of fun. My wife and I didn't tell the kids about it until they were already packed and headed to school. We just got in the car and left. They were sooooo excited. And, to make it even better, Grandma and Grandpa flew out to California to join us for a couple days. I did take my sketchbook with me, but with all of the Princesses and rides, I didn't get much drawn. Here are two pages.
You can never go wrong with pirates especially on International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrgh! We got to ride on the revamped Pirates of the Carribean ride. Very cool, but maybe not the best thing to take the two youngest on first. My daughter was kinda freaked to go on anything after that. And while we are at it, here is our run in with Jack Sparrow. Shiver me timbers!

Sketchbooks

People used to tell me "You should always keep a sketch book!". My problem was that I hated sketchbooks. Not the idea of keeping one-- I like the idea. I think every artist should have one. I just hated the book itself. Problem #1: The stupid gutter. I don't know if it's because I'm a lefty and my hand always gets in the way or because it's just really inconvienent to have that big crack down the middle of the page. You can't even get a decent scan. They are just dumb. Problem #2: Putting that first doodle in the book. Do you know what I mean? You open a fresh, clean, new book with a big white page staring back at you and you think you're going to screw it up by putting a dorky drawing right there on the first page. Then you have to look at the same dorky drawing everytime you open the book. Pretty intimidating if you ask me.

My solution was to not have a "sketchbook" in the traditional sense. Instead, I just draw on flat 8 1/5 x 11 copy paper. My hand isn't getting in the way of nuthin. It's not just any old copy paper ether. I found some great paper that is heavy and very white and a dream to draw on called Cougar Opaque. It's the best! You'd love it, trust me. I never feel like bad about about sketching like this. If I screw up I can just throw it away and start again. No pressure. I sit at my desk all day and when I get the urge to sketch I just pull out a sheet and draw. Then at the end of the year I take my stack o' sketches and get them spiral bound. It works great for me. And for portability I also have this little aluminum clipboard (see photo) that I carry around. It holds a stack of my paper inside as well as pencils and an eraser. It's nice and works great but, I don't always carry it with me because of it's size.
I decided I'd better get me a pocket sized one. I've heard a lot of artists raving about these Moleskine sketchbooks. They sounded kinda cool so I went to get one the other day. I didn't find the Moleskine ones, but I found one called Modeskin. They seemed kinda similar and much cheaper. I got mine for under $4. Not too bad. Anyway, I'm converted. It's nice to have a sketchbook that is pocket sized, compact, and convienent for when you have a new idea or if you see some freak who is just begging to be drawn. Here are my first couple pages. I hope they aren't too dorky.







There you go folks. That's my stand on sketchbooks. I'm not saying it's the only way to go, but it works for me. If you're not keeping a sketchbook, you should. It is a great way to track your progress and improvement and to keep a journal of your ideas.

Digital doodling

Just playing around in Photoshop with the ole' Wacom tablet. Kinda fun. I might have to do this some more.

Illustration Friday: Safe

I drew this during a meeting and all I had was a pen and a scrap of paper. Nothing great, but It'll have to do. Enjoy.

Imagination

Have you ever felt like your imagination was lacking? Can't get any good ideas? Maybe this can help. I found this little beauty, drawn by my daughter, in a pile of old sketches today. I thought it was great advice and I figured I would share. You have no more excuses now.

Illustration Friday: Run

This started as a little thumbnail sketch that I thought was funny. I'm not too crazy about it now. I think it lost something along the way, but it is all I have time for today. I think we've all seen our wives at one time or another fighting to get those blasted things on, only to discover there's a run. May all of your nylons be "run" free.

Illustration Friday: Match

Awww, a perfect match. Although, vertical stripes next to horizontal stripes is a big no-no. This was a very quick sketch with color slapped on in photoshop.

And on another note, today is my anniversary. Fifteen years ago I met my perfect match. Lorien, you're the best! I love you.

Illustration Friday: Play

From my book "Mary had a Little Ham". Stanley Snoutowski, the actor, presenting a play to Mary's class. What a pig! I know I did this a long time ago, but it seemed to fit. The whole book is about how Stanley the pig wants to make it on Broadway. Here he is in Hamlet, his first big part in a play. And while we are at it, here are a few more plays with Stanley in the starring role. Enjoy.

Warm-up sketches

It's been a while. We recently had a lightning strike in out neighborhood that kind of threw off my groove. It knocked out our power, phones, internet, blew out our sprinkler system, water softener, thermostat, and my stereo. The power was only out for twelve hours, but the phone and internet I didn't get back until days later. A major bummer. That, and the fact that I've been really busy has kept me from posting for a while, but I think I'm back up and running.

These sketches are a bit blah, but a least it's something. I figured I better change my "Morning Sketches" to my "Warm-up Sketches" because of the fact that these can happen at any ole' time, not just the morning. These particular doodles just happened to happen during church... which is in the morning, but that is beside the point. The big guy with the stache is a memory drawing of big dude my wife and I spotted on the way to the movies. He was about 7 feet tall, bald and he had this big black honkin' moustache. My sketch might not show the true size of it. It was huge! And it was fluffy not hairy. It looked like he was snorting a muppet. You just have to draw people like that. I drew the baby because he looked like a little old man and I drew the cats because I'm workin on a book idea with cats. That's it. I'll try to do better in the future.

Illustration Friday: Clean

I't time to post a painting from the past. I have a busy week ahead of me and I don't think I'll have time to do something new, besides, I did a whole book about cleaning. This is from "Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom". It's about a teacher who never cleans her room in fifty years of teaching. She asks her students to come up with ideas to get room #5 tidy. This is Sam Wigglesworth's Super-Duper-Picker-Upper-Thingamabob with Lilly Lumpkin the magician and some random kid in the background. I wish I could get my own kids that excited about cleaning their rooms. Enjoy.

morning sketches 4

Just doodling with pirates on the mind.

Plunderin' Peg

Yaargh! I was sketching and this lassie came out. You can never go wrong with pirates. I thought it would be fun to paint with a limited pallet. I used black, white and blue acrylics and then I added a touch of yellow at the end.

I also wanted to thank everybody who has left me comments. I really appreciate all of your kind words.

Illustration Friday: Sacrifice

Making an offering to the gods of barbecue. Quick one done in gouche.

morning sketches 3

Another day at the drawing board. My wife has been out of town all week, so I'm home with all the kids, trying to get some work done. Which isn't that bad unless you have a lot to do... I have a lot to do. Enjoy.

Illustration Friday: Skyline

These are probably the most recent paintings I've done with a "skyline" in them. I would normally picture a city when I think of a skyline, but I live in Utah and these are more like the skylines I'm used to. The paintings are from a children's book I've been working on, but the project got killed and now I'm left with a bunch of paintings that don't really have a purpose. I figured it would be okay to post them. It might be the only time they will ever be seen. Enjoy.

morning sketches 2

More warm-up sketches.

Morning sketches

Here is a page of warm-up sketches. I've had a couple days off and I'm having a hard time getting back into the groove. Drawing a bunch of random stuff seems to help me start the day. Now back to work!

Illustration Friday: Sticky

Babies define sticky.
Happy 4th everybody!

Illustration Friday: Dance

Dance baby dance!

illustration Friday: Portrait

I don't have time to do something new this week. I know, I am lame. I'm trying to finish up a picture book, do a little book cover and prepare for the wrilting and illustrating conference next week. Anyway, I thought I would post this little portrait. This is from "Showdown at Slickrock", my very first picture book (1995). Wow, that was a long long time ago. This was always one of my favorite portrait type paintings I have ever done. If I remember right it was inspired by some photos of Butch Cassidy and his gang. I still have this one hanging on my wall in a cool oval frame.

Shucks, since I'm posting old portraits, I thought I would post this one too. A bunch of little portraits of famous Americans done for Leapfrog. Enjoy.

Giddy-up

A tiny cowboy drawn on a scrap of paper.

Illustration Friday: Cake

This is really lame. I thought a butler with a piece of cake would be a funny image, but I missed the boat. Oh well, it was quick and I didn't have time to fix it up. Maybe I'll try something different later in the week.

Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers

I haven't been able to post for a while. Freelance has been keeping me very very busy lately. I post more soon. Until then, here is some upcoming stuff. I've been asked to be a presenter at BYU's Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference. For more info visit their website here

Character Design Interview

I wanted to say thanks to Randall Sly for including me on his Character Design Blog. I'm flattered and honored. It is such a great resource to learn more about so many great artist that are out there. Stop by and visit him here --you'll be glad you did!

Art for today: A little painted sketch. Pencil and acrylic.