Recently I was hired by an author/therapist to create a cover illustration for Crib Notes, an upcoming book for new parents. The client wanted me to illustrate a grid of baby faces showing various emotions and ethnicities. The book is still being edited so I don’t know exactly how the illustration will be used but they gave me permission to post the artwork. It was a fun project, and when I know more about the final result I’ll share it here.
Kid Stuff Marketing approached me with a line of characters called Country Critters. They had previously used the characters in a line of placemats, paper bags, and toys that were licensed to a variety of restaurants, and decided it was time for a refresh. I was told I could draw the characters in my own personal style as long as I didn’t deviate *too* much from the existing designs.
Also, the illustration had to be designed in such a way that it could be used as a placemat but also so that the top 15% or so could be chopped off and the rest printed as wrap-around art on paper bags. That meant the characters had to be strategically placed to avoid being printed on a fold line.
The creative director, Jay Thompson, sent me a rough sketch of an approximate layout, which helped a lot. It was a super fun project and I’m really happy with how it turned out.
A few months ago I was hired by Spider Magazine to do a full-page comic based on the theme “weather”. This is one of several ideas I submitted. It’s not the one they chose but I liked it enough to finish it up anyway.
In between client projects I draw silly cartoons. I post them as a webcomic called Sketchbook Silliness. Click on over and browse the archive.
If you support my cartoons on Patreon you can see an earlier version of this illustration with a different twist on this gag. You’ll also get lots of other goodies like early access, rough sketches, links, downloads, drawing tips, writing tips, recommended resources, AMA’s, and more!
Either way, I want to thank you for your interest in my work. May your Christmas season be filled with friendship, laughter, and peace.
One of my regular clients is Goldfish Swim Schools. Several years ago I designed a mascot for them, Bubbles the Goldfish. Earlier this year they asked me to write and illustrate a board book featuring Bubbles that they could sell in their retail locations. They wanted a story that would both encourage kids to swim also promote the school. This project was a couple of “firsts” for me:
1. While I’ve illustrated books in the past, this was the first time I was also the author.
2. This was also my first time doing the bulk of a client project on a tablet. The sketches and final art were all done on an iPad Pro using Procreate. I only had to use Photoshop to lay out the text and do some final touch-ups.
I’m told the book is only available at their physical locations and can’t be ordered online, but the client has given me permission to show a few pages:
Recently I was hired by Alex Brands to illustrate the packaging of a new line of toys called Screw Ballz. Basically they are springy foam rubber creatures that can be wound up and combined together into interlocking balls. They asked me to illustrate each animal in an active “springing out” pose. The product hasn’t hit stores yet so I can’t post photos but the client did give me permission to share the artwork I submitted:
