Santa Claus

 

  Too jolly to read. Merry Everything! See you next year!

Squirrely Whirly

  Just finished this assignment for Ranger Rick for their March issue. I tried to capture that March feeling... those blue-grey skies and patches of melting snow.  I exaggerated their tails to the point that they look a bit like bagels, or maybe cinnamon rolls. (Because that's what you want to eat before you go squirrel-spying.)

 I used traditional media for this one; pastel and colored pencils on Ingres charcoal paper.

...and here's a draft of the page. The kids can check off all the crazy things they see squirrels do.

Mom's Best Friend

A piece I just completed for babytalk magazine. Reasons your baby should have a dog: Clean up, smelly diaper alert, tug of war, and helping baby take those first steps, or maybe learning how to waterski... whichever comes first.

Thanks!

Pumpkin pie for everyone!

STONER RATS?

   No; they're just chillaxin'. It was a point of discussion for this Ranger Rick magazine article about the effect of music on plants and animals.  One scientific experiment seemed to show that lab rats and some other animals become more relaxed when they listen to music.  My first sketch was meant to show the rats relaxed and grooving; but the editors remarked that "they look like they are stoned and have the munchies".

They thought the vapor coming from the test tube looked like smoke. Not my intention at all; but after another look I can see how they made that association!  I sent the sketch to rehab.

The editors were relieved. Then I decided I wasn't happy with the scale of the test tubes in the background and felt like the eye dropper commanded too much attention so I tweaked it once more and returned the cheese to the lower right corner to balance out the color.

The article didn't say what type of music mellowed them out, but I'm guessing it might be "experimental jazz".
  Graphite and charcoal base; photoshop color.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Playing around with some ideas for Halloween fake tattoos.. they'll probably be ready by next year!

 

More Halloween imagery can be seen on my dribbble pages!

CHAOS IN THE CAFETERIA

Mice. Screaming, crying kids. Food fights. Just your typical day at school. A few pages from a reader I illustrated for Random House a couple of years ago.  You can purchase it here.  A 48-pager with illustrations on every page.  It was so much fun drawing crazed children.... I must do some more.

 

DEAD MAN'S FINGERS

... and other seasonal treats. Autumn. My favorite time of year; it's beautiful and silly AND frightening. It took a bit of tweaking here and there, but I was able to mold some of the recent assignments into postcard dimensions. And speaking of mold, the girl in the background of this one is examining a fungus called Xylaria polymorpha, better known as "Dead Man's Fingers." These were all originally created for Ranger Rick magazine.   I should get the cards this week! Then  the mailing begins. And speaking of dead, I hope the post office isn't yet.

dead man's fingers are gonna grab your pant leg!

Original piece posted here.

Original piece posted here.

CORNUCROWPIA

 art created 7-19-11

   Everyone knows crows are the cleverest of birds. So here I am to encourage all you kids to be just like them. You too can look smart by wearing specs and snappy clothes and be popular by hanging in a group. The group is called a "murder" of crows. Isn't that cool?  Crows can live anywhere. You don't need a home...just plop down on the roadside or in a field. Eat a variety of foods, including worms and insects, and get one of your friends to watch out for the authorities and caw out a warning if they see anyone coming. That way you can focus on the job of eating and reading. If you go into town, drop a nut in front of a car tire when the traffic light turns red. When the light turns green, the car runs over the nut, cracking it open. At the next red light, run out and get your snack. Very tasty, and you'll be a big hit with your friends.

 Eat a pear; read Shakespeare.

    For one of Ranger Rick's regular features: "Be Out There". You can also get other ideas for activities on their site to get you out of the house and out of your mother's hair, so to speak.

  And speaking of crows, there's a great Simpson's episode. To spare the family of having to eat genetically modified vegetables, Marge decides to grow her own corn, but her crop is attacked by crows.  So she erects a scarecrow which Homer thinks is a prowler in the dark and he beats it up and... oh... just go to this blog and you'll get the whole story.

SNUG in a SNAG

   I thought I was a nature lover; but the only kind of snag I was familiar with was the kind I get in my sweaters (darn those hangnails), until I worked on this piece.  Snags being, of course, dead trees that serve as hosts to all kinds of animals, fungi and new plants that grow in the rich soil they provide from their decay. This accompanied a page in Ranger Rick that encourages kids to see how much wildlife they can find in and around a snag.  So naturally, this snag is fully occupied.

art created 8-12-11

 

   Mr. Squirrel is a memory portrait of one cutie that destroyed our sunflowers. The one that came right up to my window ledge and gave me that very cute look.  Just checking to see if I was home.

  This is a technique I've used a few times before. The pencil drawing is completed first, then scanned and tinted; then colored in photoshop on a layer in the multiply setting so that the color is behind the drawing. The main drawback in working this way is not having a completed work of original art in color.  But I'm fairly pleased with it, so I'm turning this one into a promo piece.

detail

BIKINI MOM

A recent illustration for Babytalk magazine. I call it "va-va-voom vs. va-va-womb." The concept was body confidence for new moms. This accompanied a tongue-in-cheek quiz for moms to assess their own ideas of perfection and body image. It was good to do some editorial illustration for a change, even with a fast turnaround.

art created 8-22-11

  And oddly, I kept saying I wanted to go to the beach, and then I got this assignment.  I guess this is in the department of "Be Careful What You Wish For."  Now I'm REALLY going to the beach... but don't tell anyone!

IN SEARCH OF SEASHELLS

  It's not too late to go to the beach and look for shells in September. In sweatshirts. This spread for Ranger Rick went through several incarnations in sketch stage with a different title too, but  it finally came together.  An "aha!" moment came when I realized I could make little shell characters on the beach instead of  trying to fit in an identification drawing of shells as a separate teaching element. Anthropomorphic shells. I think Ms. Whelk and  Mr. Mussel are hitting it off.
  Another piece for Ranger Rick for a regular feature called "Be Out There". No earbuds or ipads; just sun, surf, sand and wildlife.  Donna Miller's great art direction. (Thanks for the hermit crab idea, Donna!)

art created 6-28-11

Media:  pastels, prismacolor and photoshop.

 

  Here it is in print:

DON'T BE SILLY!

  Actually; wait, be silly. Be very silly! I had a lot of fun doing this spread for 'Your Big Backyard" magazine. It was a chance to work simply and nonsensical. I drew the basic art in black prismacolor; scanned the image , changed the line color and added the rest of the color in photoshop.  Every time I look at this piece again I think "That fish needs a monocle!"
  The reproduction turned out great. I'd like to do more of this type of crazy imagery geared more toward younger kids.

art created 6-14-11

 I just found out that Mr. Fish has a great great uncle.

Artist unknown.

BIRDS in BUNCHES

  One of my recent assignments was this four pager for Ranger Rick magazine,  some of my favorite people to work with, on bird flocking behavior.  I suggested  a few other titles:  “The Birdy Bunch”, and “Hangin’ with my Peeps”,  but they passed on both.  I could see a bird saying “Marcia, Marcia , Marcia!” or some home-birds perched on a stoop. No?  O.K., perhaps some other time. Here's the first spread:

art created 5-13-11

  Birds of a feather flock together, but so do birds of several varieties. When a flock of birds is feeding; usually one bird  acts as a sentinel and will be the first to sense danger. When that one takes off;  the rest take their cue almost instantaneously.  Acorn woodpeckers have lots of Moms and Dads (and sisters and brothers) who help feed the kids. It’s like a bird commune.  I could have  put some Birkies on those bird feet… missed my chance.

detail

 A great magazine to read indoors or outdoors.

Illustrations from the second spread:

  I found the coolest video while looking for reference. The most amazing thing I’ve ever seen birds do: a  massive flock behavior in starlings called murmuration. The shapes morph into one another like a 3-D mobius strip. Displaying strength in numbers, they are trying to distract a predator. They are also making art.  Similar to those rotating shoals of fish, it’s some kind of instinctual choreography.
  The starlings’ displays are so complicated that they are being researched by physicists, aeronautical engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists, as well as biologists. Starling numbers are a fraction of what they used to be.  The decline is believed to be due to the loss of permanent pastures, the use of pesticides and a shortage of food and nesting sites.