Illustration Friday: Flavor

This is the first thing that came to mind. I don't think I'll have time to add color--maybe later. What you see is what you get.

Illustration Friday: Holiday

Well we made it through another Christmas. Happy kids, worn-out parents, gifts, too much food--the works. I thought for this topic I would pick the painting we used for this years Christmas card. I thought it was nice and Christmasy, and because today is also the start of Kwanzaa, I figured this is a nice added bonus. It is an image from Santa's Kwanzaa, a children's book I did last year. See, two holidays with one stone. We don't celebrate Kwanzaa, but I did enough research on it while illustrating the book that I think we could. Here are a few other pictures form the book. My wife actually painted this last one. She sat next to me and I told what to do. I think it turned out pretty good.


I hope everybody is having a wonderful holiday season. Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog. I've been able to meet a lot of great people here and I hope it will continue into the new year.

Snowball Fight

We have all of our Christmas shopping done. Whew! Now I only have a couple projects to finish up before the holidays and then I can relax. Won't that be nice? Anyway, here are a couple quick sketches from today's drawing. Nothing much, but at least it is something.

Illustration Friday: Surprise

Peek-a-boo!

Illustration Friday: Blue

Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox. When thinking about all of the things I could do to illustrate "blue" my mind just kept coming back to these two. I'm not entirely sure if I like it or not, but it was kinda fun to do. Enjoy.

My Studio

I was taking some pictures of the studio for something else, and I thought I would post them so people could see the place where I work. It is a rare look into the lair of a sub-basement dwelling artist. My wife even allows me to leave the lair once a day to get the mail. She thinks the fresh air might be good for me. She's a peach.

Snow Break

The other night I attended a lecture by Mark Buehner. He is a very talented children's book illustrator and he has done some really great books. Some of his more recent books are "Snowmen at Night" and "Snowmen at Christmas". After hearing him speak and seeing his work, I got snowmen on the brain. I went to draw something totally unrelated but instead this came out. Happy holidays!

Flyin' Pig

Just a quick warm-up sketch. Trying to get into the mood to work.

Illustration Friday: Small

I kept thinking about giants when trying to come up with an idea for this weeks IF so, this is what I came up with. Everything is small when it is next to a giant. I was going to do shrunken heads. That would be cool. But, I'll save that for another day.

The Sultan Rides!

Nothing impressive but it is something to post. A very random sketch. When my 7 year old daughter saw it she said I was weird. Success!

Not a cat taco!

Here is a little painting I did today for a friend who owns Bajio. A resturant with the best Mexican food around. I started out just doing another doodle, but it seemed to fit his resturant so, I went ahead and painted it. Another friend of mine,, does paintings for him all the time. He does some amazing stuff. Jim Madsen Anyway, I showed him my sketch and he threw some color on it too. Not bad eh?

Illustration Friday: Strength

I didn't think I'd have time for IF this week, but I started sketching and came up with this. It was a very quick sketch and I added the color here and there while working on another job. I don't know who he is yet. Maybe Overdeveloped Upper-body Man...I dunno. Any ideas? Those bags of chip can be hard for anyone to open.

Superhero: Team Sod

I was going to draw something for Illustration Friday. The topic is strength so, I thought superheros. Unfortunately, this is not what I meant to draw. It kinda came out this way. It just doesn't say strength. I know Mr. Turf looks strong but he is wearing a grass suit. He's not so big after a good mowing. And, the Amazing Watering Can is, well...i don't know what she is. As a team there is nobody better to battle those pesky dry spots. I'll have to come up with something else for strength if I can. Deadlines come first.

Crayons and Pig

We went out to eat tonight, which is really the best way to draw on the back of placemats. My son (3 years old) was in rare form. The orange streaked waitress was informed that "You have funny lookin' hair". Then a really big fat guy walks in and he says "Dad, look at that really big fat guy!" I was proud that he was so good at observing details, but could he just keep it to himself.

We pulled out the placemats and crayons. He scribbled the maze and the crossword. Excellent craftsmanship. I asked him what he wanted me to draw. A gun and a skateboard. This was the resulting drawing. Sometimes crayons are the best media in the world. I also drew a really big fat guy but, I didn't include it. Really, he was BIG.

Earlier in the day I was doodling on the phone and made the pig. Added paint. Voila! Enjoy.

Superhero: Captain Hand Puppet

Captain Hand Puppet! He fights crime with the help of his trusty hand puppets. Beware evil-doers.
Drawing superheros with ridiculous powers never gets old. You should try it.

Landscape

Illustration Friday: Night

I don't think I'll get around to painting something this week for the topic, but I do have some paintings that would fit. These illustrations are for a book I just recently finished painting called "Dance by the Light of the Moon" by Joanne Ryder and published by Hyperion Books for Children. The whole thing takes place at night, so it should be appropriate. It's a fun little book based on the song "Buffalo Gals" originally published in 1844. The book will be coming out sometime in 2006. I'll keep you posted. Until then, enjoy a little preview.

Scientist motorcycle chick

I wasn't sure who or what this girl was supposed to be when I drew her but, with the help of Denis Goulet I have it figured out. She is the world famous scientist who goes to work on one of those old motorcycles with a sidecar. It is quite obvious now that I think about it. Thanks Denis. Now I feel like I want to draw her in a scene-- you know, fixin her sidecar.

Headgear

I drew this portrait of my wife when she was a youngster. It's for her blog. The 80's were cruel.

Snow Sketch

I was doodling around and drew this girl. I ran out of room for her legs on the paper so, I stuck her in the snow instead of just cutting them off. Besides, that would just be cruel. I liked it so I thought I'd add some paint.