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!

Banjo Pig 8

Here is today's offering. Duel on piggies!


Check out these other illustrator's duelin' pigs!
Stacy Curtis(6 pigs) The guy who helped start this mess.

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 (2 pigs)
Doug Jones(2 pig*)
Sean Ashby (1 pig*)
Eric Barclay (1 pig*)

*=new pig

Keep em coming!

Banjo Pig 7

The duel continues. This pig looked better painted with real paint rather than digital, but the waterproof pen I used wasn't very waterproof. Fiddlesticks!

And they just keep coming. Check out these other illustrator's pigs!
Stacy Curtis(6 pigs*)
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 (2 pigs)
Doug Jones(1 pig*)

*=new pig

If you've done a Banjo Pig (and you know you want to), send us the link and we'll add it to the list.

Banjo Pig 6

A quick and messy one. Maybe an homage to the late Mr. Frazetta.

This little pig went wee wee wee all the way home. He added a new one today.
Stacy Curtis Pig count: 5

And they just keep coming. Check out these other illustrator's pigs!
Jack Foster (2)
Bob Nelson (1)
Greg Wallace (1)
Jeff Overturf (1)

The newest additions
Sam Reed (1)
Mark Harmon (1)
Greg Newbold (with 2 pigs right out of the gate...well, one isn't really a pig, but it fits)

Excellent work fellas.

If you've drawn one too, let me know and I'll add it to the list.

Banjo Pig 5

Ah, the fun never stops. I gotta say, Stacy is putting up a good fight. Well, keep em coming Banjo Boy.


Check out my main pig nemesis:
Stacy Curtis Pig count: 4

There are a bunch of other folks who joined the dueling too. Check them out. Great stuff!
Jack Foster (2)
Bob Nelson
Greg Wallace
Jeff Overturf

If you've drawn one too, let me know and I'll add it to the list.

Banjo Pig 4

Just sit right back in that chair right there and let me show you how it's done.


Stacy posted three very fine Banjo Pigs on his blog.

and Jack Foster did a version of his own.

Keep em coming.

Cheerioooooos

Here is an illustration I can talk about now because it finally hit the shelves. I still haven't seen it yet, but I had heard a rumor on facebook that it was out there in the wild. Then yesterday I was sent a photo from Stacy Curtis (an awesome illustrator who you should all follow because he is awesome), so it's official. Thanks Stacy. Ever since I was a kid I thought i'd be cool to draw the picture on a cereal box. Whodda thought I would actually do one? Weird. It was fun to do. I wish I had a bit more time to work on it--tight deadline, but what can you do? Now go and enjoy a tasty box of Apple Cinnamin Cheerios.

Banjo Pig 3

The gauntlet has been thrown. This is officially a dueling banjo pig thing. Come on Stacy, where's yours? Heck, anybody else wanna duel too?

Banjo Pig 2

I feel a theme.

Banjo

I bought a banjo the other day. I can't play it... yet, but it is something I've alway wanted to try. Besides, my friend Stacy Curtis has one, and I can't think of a more appropriate way to duel him. I painted this during a video chat with Stacy. To show him my freaky painting skillz and my new banjo. The duel is on! ...or it will be as soon as I learn to play something.

Useless Super heros: The Human Siphon

I never get tired of drawing super heros and giving them stupid powers. I was doodling tonight and another one came out of the pencil. Enjoy.

NY State Fair

This is a recent little job I did. It was cool. I got to do the poster for the New York State Fair. Actually, it was quite big. I think it may be one of the largest illustration I've ever worked on. At least, it didn't fit on my scanner. I painted it in two parts, the logo and the background. You can see a bit of the process below. Enjoy.

Provo Children’s Book Festival

This Saturday I'll be hanging out with a bunch of incredible writers and illustrators at the PROVO LIBRARY CHILDREN'S BOOK FESTIVAL! Everybody come. You know you want to. It'll be fun.

Saturday, May 15, 2010, 12 Noon - 5:00 pm at the Provo City Library
Featuring Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm, dynamic sister-and-brother superduo, author and illustrator of Babymouse.


Also including a host of activities for children and their families, with children's crafts, games, giveaways and prizes; visits from favorite characters like Clifford, Wild Thing, and Curious George; author presentations and signings, puppet shows, and a visit from the world-famous Infernal Twister, balloon-tying extraordinaire!

Food, beverages, and candy will be available for purchase.

EVERY child that attends gets a FREE book!

Also featuring local favorite authors and illustrators: Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, Brandon Sanderson, Mette Ivie Harrison, Clint Johnson, Dene Low, Randall Wright, Carla Morris, Kristyn Crow, Sharlee Glenn, Wendy Toliver, Kristin Chandler, Sara Zarr, Emily Wing Smith, Mike Knudson, Ann Dee Ellis, Maryn Roos, Guy Francis, Nathan Hale, Sherry Meidell, Julie Olson, J. Scott Savage, and Ann Bowen!

Coming Soon

I never know when it is okay to share what jobs I've been working on, but earlier today, Anne Marie Pace, the author of my new picture book, posted the cover of NEVER EVER TALK TO STRANGERS, so that means it's okay for me to talk about it too. It's cool to see it with the text in place. It was a fun little book to work on. It will be published by Scholastic Book Clubs in September, 2010. Watch for it.

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.