New Books

I was on Amazon yesterday and realized that a couple little chapter books I illustrated were released today. Cool! Angus MacMouse Brings Down the House by Linda Phillips Teitel and The Pup Who Cried Wolf by Chris Kurtz. They were fun jobs to work on. In fact, I just finished book #3 yesterday and will be starting book #4 soon, so keep an eye out for them.

Illustration Friday: Focused

Or, in my case, unfocused. When I get working on a book, or any other big illustration project, I often lose focus. I guess I get tired of seeing the same characters or working on the same paintings day after day. So, to break up the monotony, I'll take a little break and do really quick sketches or paintings. This is one of those paintings. Doing this kind of thing seems to refresh the creativity and makes real work bearable, keeps me focused. It works for me at least.

Happy Groundhog day

doodles

I been so swamped with work lately that I haven't had a lot of drawing just for fun time or to give much thought to the ole blog for that matter. Yes I've been slackin' so I thought I'd at least post some quick sketches. Enjoy.

Sketch Painting

This mornings warm-up sketch.

Mermaid

This was a quick painting done as a break from real work. Enjoy.

01022010

Wow! It's Palindrome Day! 01/02/2010. This happens, like once in...ever!

Since So Cat Tacos? is also a palindrome, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate. I don't have anything new to post--I've been super busy--so in honor of Palindrome Day, I will post my first So Cat Tacos? banner. I even put it in a fancy gold frame to commemorate this momentous occasion. And now I am going out to eat some tacos. Sans cats, hopefully.

So Cat Taco Stats:

Active since: 5/26/05 (NOT a palindrome)
Posts: 325
Visitors: 52,301 (not counting 2005)
Countries: 138

Thank you all for coming to visit. I appreciate your comments. I will try to post more this year, however, this is not a new year's resolution, because then it would not get done.

Feel free to comment with your favorite palindrome. There are some goodies out there.

Happy 2010...0102 yappH

Quick post

Here's a couple quick sketch paintings.

Mustachioed Fella

Here is a little in-between paintings painting. Think of it as a sorbet to cleanse the pallet. Sometimes, when I'm working on a real job, it's nice to take a few minutes every once in a while and do something that doesn't matter. That's where this guy came from. Besides, everyone should draw an oversized mustache every once in a while. It's liberating.

Illustration Friday: Skinny

This is a painting that has been sitting around in an unfinished state for a very, very long time. I recently picked it back up, blew off the dust, and started working on it again. I finished it today and since she is quite skinny, I thought it would fit the Illustration Friday topic this week quite nicely. After a hard day of slaying dragons, I hope you too can relax and enjoy a nice peanut butter and dragon sandwich.

Illustration Friday: Frozen

Taking a break for a lovely frozen treat.

Illustration Friday: Flying

I posted the sketch for this earlier, and I added color over the weekend. I might need some more work, but for now I'm calling it done. It seems to fit the topic and the season. Enjoy.

Flyin' Witch

One of today's quick sketches.

Madam Maryn's Crystal Ball

I built this little automaton last weekend for my good friend Maryn Roos. She has an awesome yearly Halloween party, and this years theme is centered around fortune telling. I thought she'd like her very own tiny crystal ball. Hope you like it.

Spectre

I did the sketch for this a while back and I decided to add some paint over the weekend. I thought she could some kind of spectre ghost thingie, but I don't know if that really shows. Maybe she is just some girl without pupils? I'm thinking about adding some stitches on her arms...reattached limbs kind of thing. Who knows? For now, this will have to do. Enjoy.

Fall into Books

Brigham Young University - Idaho is having their "Fall Into Books" Children's and Young Adult Literature Conference tomorrow, September 19. I know, it's a bit of a short notice, but if you're in the Rexberg Idaho area and you want to go to a great conference, this is the place to be. I'll be doing a small workshop in the afternoon. The keynote speakers are Caldcott artist Eric Rohmann and Newbury award winner Lois Lowry. Here is a link to the website with more info.

iphone sketch

I downloaded a little sketch program on the iphone. I think it's called Sketch Book X, from Autodesk. This sketch was the test drive. I haven't done finger painting for years. Kinda fun.

Illustration Friday: Welcome

This is a work in progress. My class asked me to do a demo, but I didn't have anything prepared. I asked them what they wanted me to paint and they suggested a girl vampire. Great. Fits perfectly with the Gallery O' Terror. Then it struck me that I could combine the demo with Illustration Friday. A bit silly but who cares. They want me to finish it in class, so from sketch to what we have here is a good 45 min to an hour of painting. I'll finish it next week, but I thought I'd post what I have before I miss the topic. Enjoy.

On another unrelated topic, I found this photo of Scott Fisher and Gregory Manchess, two amazing artists, at the Spectrum Show. That's my painting peeking out over Gregory's shoulder. Cool.


And again on another unrelated topic, here is Mark Harmon's photo with me. You'd think you could have at least put on some shoes. Jeez.

Gallery O' Terror - Marking His Territory

I think it's time to start working on the ole Gallery O' Terror. To start off, here's a little something I sketched today. I've got to give credit to my daughter for this one. It was her idea. Anyway, enjoy. Hopefully there will be much more on the way.


Oh, and here is a photo of me with Neil, from the Take Your Picture With Me post. Thanks to Jake Parker, aka Agent 44, for searching the National Archives for this one.

Take your photo with me!

So, I really wanted to go to the "Spectrum" show at the Society of Illustrators in New York. Doesn't look like it's going to happen. I'm kinda bummed. That means I'm not going to meet all the cool people I wanted to meet. You know, take a few photos with all of you illustrators I admire. Anyway, even though I can't go, I thought it would still be cool to get my picture taken with you. Come on, you're illustrators, you all know how to run Photoshop. Right? So, here are a few photos of me with my arm on your shoulder. Go ahead and put yourself in there. Make me feel like I was at the show too. Heck, this goes for anybody who read this. I'd love to have my picture with you too. This is the same way I met Oprah (thanks to Stacy Curtis). We've been friends ever since.






If you are going to the show, I hope you have a great time.

Send your photo of us to me at guy@guyfrancis.com and I'll post it.