Apparantly this website has been around for a while, but I just discovered it. Illustration Mundo is a great little site for freelance illustrators. There are articles, book recommendations, a great little forum, and if you are a professional illustrator you can advertise your work for free, complete with a large thumbnail that links to your website. You can also rate other artists, add them to your favorites, and track news of their latest goings-on. I’ve seen some illustration sites that are, well, less than professionally done. But I’m pretty impressed with this one. Check it out.

Apparantly other bloggers are doing this, so I thought I’d join in.

Things currently on my desk include:

A yo-yo.

Several toys including a Buzz Lightyear doll and a Bob the Tomato mug filled with pens.

A photo of my wife as a young girl.

A stack of art books I was planning to sell on amazon.com or ebay until I discovered they were not worth very much.

A sketchbook.

“The Purple Cow” (a book I am currently reading)

Disney’s “Hercules” DVD (I’m studying one of the characters as reference for a project).

A jar of Carmex.

A stack of DVDs I bought at Comic-Con but still haven’t found time to watch.

A button that reads “I Done Real Good.” My wife gave this to me after we found out she is pregnant.

Every year the Evangelical Press Association publishes a catalog of freelancers (artists, writers, photographers, etc.) who want to work in Christian markets. Last year my listing was published with the wrong phone number. Turns out it was completely my fault, not theirs. But to patch things up they were kind enough to let me design this year’s cover in exchange for a free listing.

Even though I won’t be getting paid for this project, it is a neat way for me to promote my work. And I can pretty much do whatever I want, which is a rare freelance opportunity. I decided to stretch myself by doing something in Illustrator with a flat, graphic look as opposed to my usual “soft and shaded” work in Photoshop. Since this is essentially a promotional piece it could be argued that I should show off my strengths, but I’ve been doing a lot of self-promotion lately so I think I can afford to bust out of my mold a bit. Besides, it was a lot of fun.

Once the main character was designed, I had to create a layout. This is where I really feel wobbly since graphic design is not my strength. Fortunately there are some great books out there filled with appealing color schemes, so I think the color harmony keeps it from totally falling apart.

(Click images for a larger view.)

According to VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer, NBC has done an about-face. When the network first began airing VeggieTales a few months ago, they were editing out most of the references to God and/or the Bible (a decision which never made sense to me). Well, no longer. Future episodes will apparantly be aired un-edited. Woo hoo!

Two projects which I just finished:

First, Arctic Cat publishes a children’s magazine three times a year, and they wanted to update their “Cool Cat” character who offers a safety tip for snowmobiling at the end of each issue. This illustration will be placed next to the safety tip. It was a rush project, so if I had it to do over again I would have made the pose read more clearly. It’s hard to make out the right leg at first glance.

City Place Steakhouse is a new restaurant that will be opening soon in New Jersey. The owner is styling his menu in a newspaper format, and he wanted a comic strip to go on the “Children’s Menu” page. This was what I came up with (click for a larger image). It’s adapted from an old Ole and Lena joke. Hey, I’m an artist not a writer. At the last minute the client requested that the restaurant name be incorporated into the comic strip somewhere. So I stuck the logo in the background on the first panel. Hopefully it looks natural.

If you live near Carlstadt, New Jersey, look for City Place Steakhouse to be opening soon.