Road trip to ALA

I drove to Chicago for the ALA (American Librarian Association) conference with the fabulous author, Rick Walton, and the amazing illustrator Will Terry.

We drove for a very long time.

And ate very good food on the way.

On the first night we stayed with our good friends Eric Rohman and Candace Fleming.

Eric even let me hold his Caldcott shaped hunk of metal. Cool.

At the conference we met up with my friend and local Chicago artist, Stacy Curtis. Very funny guy.


Met some cool people.

Loren Long

Kadir Nelson and one of my excellent editors, Stephanie Lurie. (Hyperion)

Donna Bray, another one of my wonderful editors. (Balzer & Bray)

My friend Laura Vaccaro Seeger.

Lane Smith liked my book. What a nice guy.

Will Terry signing books.

Will next to some sleeping girl at the park.


Tried to find Oprah, but she totally avoided us. So typical of her.

Stacy. Not pulling a face, this is how he always looked. Can you see why people didn't want to talk with us?

Stacy with Chicago garbage. We can't take him anywhere.

Beth Krommes and Neil Gaiman, right after receiving the 2009 Caldcott and Newbery awards.


More great food.

We wore Will out.


Overall, it was a great trip. Lots of fun.

Doodles

I've been a blog slacker lately. I need to do better. Here is a few recent sketches to show you that I have actually been drawing stuff.

P is for Present!

My best friend is a graphic designer living in Sydney Australia. He often calls me to help brainstorm ideas for whatever project he might be working on. The other day he was working on some Christmas stuff and asked me to draw him a koala. I wasn't in the mood and didn't really have time, so this is what I sent him. We are talking to each other online so this was extremely quick. Anyway, later that day he sends me the fished product. I was amazed he was able to pull that out of my sketch. A bit disappointed that he didn't follow it closer. I your not even going to use my idea, why even ask? He also asked me for a quick sketch of his coworker who likes pirates...no ninjas...no pirates. The sketch was done before they made up their mind. I wonder what it'll look like finished.

Illustration Friday: Unfold

Duane unfolds the mysteries of paper aerodynamics.

Sketch Paintings

Here are a few little sketch doodles I did during a slow time in class. Just fiddling around in gouache.

Cat and Mouse Painted

Here it is all painted.

Cat and Mouse

This Is what I built yesterday. I've wanted to build an automaton for a while, so I did. It's for my daughter. We are going to paint it later. Enjoy.

Illustration Friday: Poise

Brooke was poised to become a great entomologist.

This was a little demo I did for my class. Trying to teach them a little bit about painting in acrylics.

Girl sitting

Just something to post so that you all don't think that I'm a slacker.

Random stuff

Here are a few doodlie-oodlies. Nothing exciting, but it is something to post. The color one was a very quick, unfinished coloring demo I did to show my class.

Eye Find

Here is something I can finally post. I worked on this book for Klutz a long time ago, but I had never seen it in print yet. Then a little while ago I saw this little kid looking at one of my paintings in a little book and I said "hey, let me see that". I might have freaked him out a little bit, but it was cool to see that somebody had it. Originally, they asked me to do a "hidden picture" for one of the interior pages. Then they asked if I would design the little tools that come with the book, which was cool. And then they asked if I'd do the cover too. Nice. Turned out to be a really fun project. The hidden picture was supposed to have 25 hidden things in it, but I got a little carried away. There are 45 now. See if you can find them. (the cover also had a bunch of hidden things.) Here is is on Amazon if you want one of your own.

Monsters

Man, I've been slacking on the ole blog. I figured I'd post this just to have something new to show. An old friend gave my kids and I a scroll saw. He thought my kids could have a lot of fun making stuff with it. This is my first attempt at making something. I just started cutting, and these guys are what came out. It's not an illustration, but it's kind of artsy. Ether way it was fun to do.

Poe

Happy 200th Birthday Edgar! This is an old image I did of Mr. Poe, and I thought I'd post it in honor of his special day.

The amazing Alina Chau gave me a blog award. Thanks Alina, you are too kind.. I've never won a blog award. I'm honored. Here are the rules:
1. Put the award logo on your blog
2. Tell who has nominated you
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4. Give links to that blogs
5. Inform the nominated ones that they got this award :)

It's tough to pick favorites, but here are a few that deserve the award:

Paige Kaiser
James Gurney
Stacy Curtis
Mel Milton
Will Terry
Ryan Wood
Maryn Roos

Painted Bail Out

I forgot to post this finished, so here it is. Hope everybody had a nice Christmas. I know I did. Happy New Year!

Illustration Friday: Balloon

Everybody enjoys a balloon.

Biker dude- How I paint

I painted this for my friend and excellent illustrator, Stacy Curtis. While I was at it I thought I'd try doing a video of my process. Who knows if this will work. The quality isn't that great, but it gets better near the end. If it is stupid or too fast or whatever, let me know. Come on, it's my first try. Anyway, enjoy. Hope you like it Stacy.

Illustration Friday: Opinion

Here is a little sketch of how I think the government bail out thing works. But, that just my opinion.






While we are at it, here are a few recent paint doodles. Work has been keeping me very busy, so I've been slacking on the posts. Sorry.

In the news

My neighbor just called and said he saw me in the newspaper. Well, that was news to me. I looked it up online and found the article. It is about a children's book illustration show I'm participating in at the Springville Museum of Art. The show has about 25 children's book illustrators from Utah. It's pretty cool. This photo shows me doing a story time reading for a bunch of kids. The show will be up until Dec. 28 so go check it out. Click here if you want to read the article or here to visit their blog.

Illustration Friday: Repair

I came across this painting today and thought I'd post it for this topic. It is an older painting, but since I don't have time to do something new this week, I thought it might be okay. Besides, for being such a quick little painting, I sure have grown to like it a lot. Enjoy.

Background added

So, I added a background to this one. I think I'll paint it someday, but right now I'm really busy with work. Maybe the next full moon.

Vote!

Hi folks. I entered my wife Lorien in a Sarah Palin look-alike contest the other day and she was selected as one of five finalists. She didn't know I nominated her and I don't know if she was very happy about it, but she's a good sport. You can read more about it at her blog. Now she needs your votes. Click here to cast your ballots.






Below is her TV debut. (if I posted it right)

Old (Zombie) Goat

A couple students, Jed Henry and Jake Wyatt, stopped by yesterday for a little studio visit.  I was showing them how I prep paintings.  Jed told me to draw a goat, which didn't feel Halloweenie enough, so I made it a zombie goat.  It was mostly just a lousy sketch with some thin colors on it, but today I decided to finish it up.  I think it'll make a nice addition to the Gallery O' Terror.

Illustration Friday: Late

Don't you hate  it when you go for a late night snack, the moon is out, and this happens?  Bummer.  This is an idea for the Gallery O' Terror.  It's a busy week, if I have time I'll try to paint it up.

Family Photo

This one might need a better title.  Any ideas?

Sweet

In my original drawing the little girls shadow was holding a kitchen knife.  My wife thought it was a little much, so I changed it to a monster.  I'm not really happy with the way it turned out.  In my head it looks way better.

Fluffy

Here's a new one. Isn't October is the best month ever?

My wife has the Gallery O' Terror (all of my Halloween paintings from the past) hanging in the living room now. If you are around, you're welcome to stop by for a look...if you dare!

Disco Zombie

Yesterday my wife finished hanging all of my spooky paintings for the Gallery of Terror. It is starting to feel more and more like fall, and that means Halloween. The best holiday of the year. This is just a little sketch I did while getting in the mood. Enjoy.

I've been asked to participate in a children's book illustration show at the Springville Art Museum. There will be a lot of really great artists involved. You're all invited to come and check it out. Here are the details:


13 September - 28 December 2008

A collection of children’s books illustrations, this exhibition showcases the work of 27 illustrators that have their roots in Utah. Appealing to both adults and children alike, the show will also display works that explore the process of creating illustrations for books. Each artist has their own unique style, but all add tremendously to the joy of reading! In fact, some illustrators will be at the museum during the opening and throughout the duration of the exhibition to do live readings of their books. The artists shown in the exhibition include:



Ben Sowards
Bethanne Anderson
Brett Helquist
Cambria Evans (Christensen)
Carolyn Fisher
David A. Carter
E.J. Bird
Fumi Kosaka
Greg Newbold
Greg Swearingen
Guy Francis
Hala Wittwer
Howard Fullmer
James Christensen
Julie Olsen
Kevin Hawkes
Lily Toy Hong (Hatch)
Mark Buehner
Mark Graham
Matthew Armstrong
Nathan Hale
Pat Bagley
Richard Hull
Robert (Bob) Barrett
Robert Neubecker
Sherry Meidell
Will Terry

Illustration Friday: Clutter

Here are a few spreads from my book "Mrs. McBloom, Clean Up Your Classroom!". The whole book is about a teacher who never cleaned her classroom in fifty years. It is crammed packed with clutter. I couldn't resist posting them.

Illustration Friday: Memories

I've neglected Illustration Friday for a while so I quickly did this little painting. I try to do better in the future. Enjoy.

Reminder: There are still a few days left on my art auction. Go check it out.

Auction

This is Guy's wife taking over!

A friend of ours, Stephanie Clark Nielson, and her husband were badly burned in a plane crash. Their 4 children are being cared for by loving aunts and uncles while they remain hospitalized in critical condition, probably for months. You may learn more about Stephanie and her family here and here. We are participating in Designmom's fundraising efforts and are auctioning a few of Guy's sketch paintings to donate to Stephanie's recovery fund.

The pieces we're auctioning are posted below. You can link to eBay to bid on them.

So c'mon all you art lovers--dig into your pockets, donate to a worthy cause, and get some of my hubby's sweet art to hang on your wall!


click here to bid


click here to bid


click here to bid


click here to bid