Wow, why am I so bad about posting regularly? Trick question--I have no idea! Okay, so as always, I'm resolving to post more faithfully. Here is my current news to get the ball rolling: Let's start with a visual aid! Here's thing I just made: I painted it on my beautiful new Surface! I've been… Continue reading News and Such.
Tag: illustration
The Haunted Serpent: Sneak peek!
Just going through some files on my computer that I haven't looked at in a while and came across an illustration for my (currently unpublished) middle grade novel The Haunted Serpent that I'd forgotten all about! That book has SO many illustrations (80 or something crazy like that...I forget/have blocked out exactly how many) that… Continue reading The Haunted Serpent: Sneak peek!
Cover reveal: THE BOATMAN
Isabel Wixon is weird. Not only does she see dead things, but her list of friends consist of a talkative ventriloquist’s dummy and the gentlemanly spider that lives in her hair. Real friends? Too hard. Inventing friends is much easier. Inventing the Boatman—a terrible monster that lures kids into a strange sleeping sickness and never… Continue reading Cover reveal: THE BOATMAN
Extraordinary Sam Cover Reveal!
Just finished up a really fun project for an upcoming book called Extraordinary Sam (by Kevin A. Springer, published by BookFish Books) ... I got to do the cover art! It's a super fun middle grade novel about an ordinary boy (what? You were expecting maybe something more than ordinary, for some reason?!) who stumbles into an amazing… Continue reading Extraordinary Sam Cover Reveal!
Shiny New Illustrations, with ICKY BUGS!
Thought I'd share a few illustrations from a new picture book I've been working on (click to view larger versions)... The first page is just a rough sketch-- when I'm working on illustrating a picture book I start by sketching out the full book to plan the page layouts. Then I do a few finished… Continue reading Shiny New Illustrations, with ICKY BUGS!
My contribution to the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Project
Haven't been posting much lately because I've been keeping busy with some freelance illustration projects... One of my favorites was contributing an illustration to a coffee-table book celebrating the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Here's my piece: I felt so lucky that I was assigned to one of my favorite scenes… Continue reading My contribution to the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Project
Finding an Artist’s Rep — should you, can you, etc…
Took a break from working on the ol' webcomic today to keep researching agents/artist's reps... Lately I've been thinking instead of submitting my portfolio directly to publishers I should focus on trying to find an artist's rep. (This is skipping the question of whether I could even get an agent anyway!) I thought I'd… Continue reading Finding an Artist’s Rep — should you, can you, etc…
Favorite illustrators — Leo and Diane Dillon
Just been thinking a lot the past couple of weeks about the work of Leo and Diane Dillon and thought I'd share this link to an interview from 2000 with the two of them: Locus Magazine interview. It's a great read -- they talked a little about how they came up with their process of… Continue reading Favorite illustrators — Leo and Diane Dillon
It’s called branding
I just noticed that someone found my blog because they were searching for "miserable pen and ink." Somehow my artwork has become associated with misery without me even trying. And here I think of it as whimsical! Perhaps Google's search algorithms know more about my state of mind than I do. But merciful heavens,… Continue reading It’s called branding
Started submitting illustration samples!
Finally. It took HOURS fiddling with colors until my printer would produce copies that look SOMETHING like the originals, but I started mailing samples to publishers! Whew. It's such a long process -- made longer by me constantly chickening out and deciding I didn't have any pieces that were good enough to send out, doing… Continue reading Started submitting illustration samples!
The Poisoned Inkwell 