Illustration Friday: Duet

Banjo duets alway ends in a duel.


See more pigs at the Banjo Pig blog.

Illustration Friday: Sweater

Banjo pig in V-neck sweater standing in a boat that is still on a trailer.


Visit the Banjo Pig blog

Illustration Friday: Star gazing

I couldn't pass up this weeks topic. I did a whole book about a very famous star gazer. Here are a few images that I illustrated from "The Planet Hunter" by Elizabeth Rusch. It is about the astronomer Mike Brown, the guy who made Pluto not a planet anymore. The publisher mixed my illustrations with real photos of space. It was a fun book to work on.

Banjo Pig 9

Here is a quick Banjo Pig from my sketchbook. I took a clue from Eric Barclay and combined my pig with this weeks Illustration Friday topic.


My daughter and her cousin wanted to do their own Banjo Pigs. They are both twelve. Not too shabby!



This whole Dueling Banjo Pig thing has kinda taken on a life of it's own. It's awesome. It may slow down for me a bit because of some work deadlines and some conferences I have to go to, but that doesn't mean you can't stop doing your own.

Check out these other illustrator's duelin' pigs!

Stacy Curtis(18 pigs)NEW But, he cheats. 12 banjo pigs in one post? What? Too scared to fight pig vs pig? You have to bring in a whole gang? Well, you don't scare me Stacy! Okay... just a little bit.

Jack Foster (3 pigs)
Bob Nelson (2 pigs)
Greg Wallace (2 pigs)
Jeff Overturf (3 pigs)
Sam Reed (1 pig)
Mark Harmon (1 pig)
Greg Newbold (3 pigs) NEW
Doug Jones(2 pig)
Sean Ashby (1 pig)
Eric Barclay (1 pig)
Shane Lewis (1 pig. But, browse through is blog. He has tons of critters playin' banjos) NEW
Paula J Becker (2 pigs.) NEW


Let me know if I'm missing anyone and keep em coming!

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.

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.

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.

Illustration Friday: impatience

Bonnie impatiently waited...


Warm up sketch with a bit of color added. Kinda lame. I didn't even bother cleaning it up.

Illustration Friday: modify

Dread Barry made a few modifications for his part time job at the mall.

Illustration Friday: Unfold

Duane unfolds the mysteries of paper aerodynamics.

Illustration Friday: Canned

The stock boy gets canned by beans.

Illustration Friday: Hoard

My son loves to build stuff. He hoards cardboard boxes, toilet paper rolls, cardstock, rope... you name it. He can build whatever he wants from duct tape and paper. A little McGyver.

Illustration Friday: Wrinkles

Perhaps you just need a tighter ponytail.

This was a lame idea that popped into my head, so I did a very quick sketch with some slapped on color. Gross, I know, but I do like where her ear ended up.

Illustration Friday: Primitive

Ahhh crayons, the primitive tool of my youth. I took my kids out for pizza for my son's birthday tonight. They always ask how many kid's menus we need and I usually get enough for me too. Place mat menus, crayons and food-- an excellent combination.

Illustration Friday: Garden

I drew this guy in college back in 91-92. I thought I'd post it because...well.. it's Garden Man! Defender of the freshly cultivated.

Illustration Friday: Leap

This is part of a very rough sketch for a book I'm working on. It seemed to fit the topic so I went with it. If I had a bit more time I might have done something a little better. Oh well.

Illustration Friday: Multiple

Randy hates to multiply.

Illustration Friday: Trick or Treat

This is too good of a topic to pass up. Unfortunately, I didn't have a whole lot of time to give this the right treatment it deserves. The idea has probably been done too. Oh well. This will most likely be the last Gallery O' Terror piece I do this year too. This month has been zipping by way too fast. Maybe I'll just have to keep drawing creepy things for the next couple of months to make up for the lack of really cool halloween posts.