Poof -Genie Magic

This is a spot illustration for a book I'm working on for Sara Gifford. I love breaking expectations that cause a little double take, like a genie who floats her head like the Wizard of Oz as she grants your hearts desire. I'll post the results of the first wish in a couple days.

Mindful of Each Sparrow

This is another little painting I've done recently, "Mindful of Each Sparrow". It's was a Mother's Day present to my spectacular wife Leslie. She is so sensitive to others needs and emotions, especially our little ones (this painting is of Kylee).

It's based on the scriptures Matt 6:26-32 & Matt 10:29-31.

What's been bugging me? Actual Size

Publish Post
Hello folks- I am not dead, stop calling. Here is a little painting (3.5"x2") that I did just because I've had an empty black frame sitting around. It's not a groundbreaking piece by any means but it cleared away the dust off of my acrylics. Over the past few months I've done mostly digital painting and photography and felt the sting of guilt. Ha,--Sting...wasp-- oh I'm too much. See ya soon.

New Sketchbook, New Goals--Primative

A new sketchbook's in town and I've made some definitive goals to let my sketch explorations stretch me technically and creatively. The permanence of inking has always scared me even though I like to sketch with a ball-point pen. Although it may sound funny, I love how forgiving oils and acrylics are; thus all of my professional work has been in those two mediums. This is one of my first attempts at inking; the reference image is not original (Tom Stone's amazing homeless portraits) but gave me an opportunity to explore a bit.I love combining traditional and digital mediums. A quick drawing, a beautifully aged piece of paper, and some digital painting (another goal). I'm fairly pleased with the result and look forward to the next 1,000 pics to help me really nail down this whole inking thing.

Please leave me some of your pointers, experiences inking, or sketch book goals. Tchao.

Children's Literature Conference

This last week I attended a great SCBWI Conference at UVSC (UVU) for authors & illustrators of children's publications. It was a fabulous experience I'll repeated for years to come I assure you. The conference had been geared to provide industry specific lectures, forums, and guests for illustrators this year. David Small -if you don't know him you still have time to repent- was the key note speakers for illustrators. He and his author wife gave fantastic lectures and gave generously of themselves to attendees-I must say I was given far more time than I deserved.

The Editor/illustrator's Best Illustrator Award was given to me-a genuine suprise. There were quite a few strong illustrators there. Of additonal signifigance I was invited to be a co-author in a The Children's Book Blog for Illustrators, a source of info for illustrators. If your looking for substantive comments and resources it's a wonderful place to bookmark.

I'll be adding a lot more images here and on my website soon. Look for more pics from my sketchbook too. See you soon.

Genie

Here is the other character sketch for the children's book I'm working on. Much thanks to Shawn Boyles for helping me get back to basic shapes. In this painting I had been making the forms look too life-like and had to simplify the form for the right audience.

I'm having a lot of fun on these illustrations in that they're largely digital with very graphic flat areas. Form and color tend to make or break the effectiveness of each picture.

Good Morning Sunshine

Here is a fun digital piece for Illustration Friday. I'm combining the Blanket topic with Horizon from a few weeks ago. You could call it illustrative repentance. Anyway enjoy!