New Postcard Promo! (Spring… technically)

I have a new promo postcard ready to go! Okay, I've had it ready to go since mid-May… I've been a little slow this year. Prepared, but slow. Trying to catch up on my blog posts too. I won't even bother to postdate this one, LOL.

Here's the full piece. I call it Polly and Sunny (polar bear & sun bear) and it's the piece I completed for the SCBWI-NM Enchantment Show earlier this year.

This piece was a lot of fun, The original is pretty tiny, but I enlarged the final piece to about 10"x 20". All the line work was layered in digitally.

My goal this year has been to push myself and develop a more blended style of traditional & digital techniques. This was definitely a step in the right direction… but I think I'd like to loosen up even more,  push the characters even further. What say you?

New Postcard Promo!

(SCBWI Tomie dePaola Entry)

Hey! I'm heading to an SCBWI conference this weekend and I got a new postcard made for the occasion! I just happened to have a new piece, the one I made for SCBWI's Tomie dePaola contest.

See the Unofficial Gallery to look at other entires!

This is the whole piece, check out the assignment/prompt here.

It's a visual play on Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil… which originates from Japanese folklore. So I took the work famous Snow Monkeys (Japanese Macaque) and instead of having anything to do with evil, they're just all sneezing… but only one of them is covering their mouth. I thought it was fun, and I'm happy with the piece overall. It also gave me a chance to test a new style—I worked smaller than actual size on this, and I went back in and added the line work (breezes and sneezes) digitally.

New Work: Charlie's New Friend

Last weekend, our local SCBWI Chapter sponsered a special Illustrator's Professional Development Day, with art director, Laurent Linn, from Simon & Schuster. It involved working on a picture book project, a double page spread from a text that Laurent Linn supplied (he sent all participants two manuscripts to choose from) -- in advance of the actual event. The process involved getting direct feedback from Laurent at the sketch stage and finished with a 20 minute individual critique on the day of the event.

I chose a story about a shy little pig learning to make new friends. I really wanted to get a strong portfolio piece out of this assignment, and I think I did. I have a LOT of photos and scans from the whole process, which I will post soon - but for now I just wanted to share this with everyone! Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: SLITHER

Sleepy Snakes. This is a sketch I did last year, it was meant to be the follow-up piece to my Sleepy Bears (that will be traveling to the CPSA International Exhibition in a few weeks). I really liked how it was developing, but I think I got hung up on that fact that snakes doesn't have eyelids - so while they're sleeping underground, they won't LOOK like they're sleeping. Anyway, this is my rough of the layout. I got as far as the final sketch, but haven't been able to get past the eyelid issue. Thoughts? Should I keep going?

I am SO bad at keeping up with my blog. This is a desperate attempt to post anything, as opposed to something good, since I've been so… distracted lately.
Of course, distracted is an understatement. Crazy big events going on here, for me. Work, travel, packing, travel, work, work, and more travel. Then… moving? ;) More on that soon.

Illustration Friday: INTRICATE

So, it's been a really long time since I posted for Illustration Friday. I've got my friends & colleagues hooked on it so much that we have a weekly 'date' to set aside two hours every Friday afternoon at a local coffee bar with free wifi. But when I get there I realize I have an email to answer, or I have a deadline to meet, and I somehow blink and the our time is up. Of course, this week's theme (so right up my alley) called for a little time to be spent - I thought about it for a couple days and realized I could combine this theme with another project I've been wanting to work on - Custom 52!

So here it is, in progress - my intricate deuce of diamonds. Will post updates as they come!

NEW PROMO: "Cold, cavernous, huddled, hibernation."

The second piece of my ambitious 12 part series of promotional postcards is complete!

FEB '09:
This new piece showcases the Kodiak Bear, the largest of the Brown Bear family (about the same size as a Polar Bear), that can only be found throughout the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in Alaska. Look closely, the two little cubs form a heart shape tucked into they're mother's warm body, in honor of February's most noted holiday.

NEW PROMO: "Deep, dark, sea sleep."

I have just completed the first piece of an ambitious 12 part series of promotional postcards I will send out in 2009. Each month there will be a new piece in the series thatcenters around sleeping animals from all over the world, in very different environments, and will correspond the the month in which they are released in some way.

JAN '09:
This new piece showcases the Bowhead whale, that does not migrate to warmer waters in winter, preferring to stay in the frigid northern arctic.

Illustration Friday: THEORY

What happens to all those Christmas spirits? Isn't it Christmas somewhere all year long?
I intended to do a christmas card, but it got done a little later than I had planned, so I tried to make it more of a cross-over, Christmas - into new year card. How did I do?

Solo Show: WILDlife

In celebration of their first year in ABQ, Tangerine Cafe will be hosting my first solo show and gallery reception.

"WILDlife is a collection of my works centering on the animal side of life. Fantastical beasts, friendly fauna, and mysterious mammals alike come together to share a unique and all together wonderous journey through a variety of landscapes and stories."

Check out our announcement.