The Sunrise Band

 I recently had the pleasure of working on a reader for Red Chair Press. The art director and author, Jeff Dinardo, has extremely high standards and wanted a trade look for the books; so I was delighted to be included. The books, "Funny Bone Readers", all have life lessons and this one centered on how to get along despite being total opposites. And, of course, the power of music to connect.
 It's a 24 page book. I took a few other assignments during March and April but mostly worked on this. It will be released some time later this year; and since I have permission to post the illustrations; here is The Sunrise Band. Desert owls are called elf owls and make their homes in cacti. They have no ear tufts, just roundish heads, so she needed some owlish glasses. The lizard is loosely based on a collared lizard. It was fun immersing myself in the desert with these characters for a while. I'll keep you posted on the publication date.

cover

Jungle Jams

 Hot off the drawing board (and has it ever been hotter?!) A cover for High Five. Pastels on Mi Tientes and digital.  I really wanted to add a little beetle playing a tiny black baby grand in the right foreground to balance out the black and white zebra. There will be an overlay in that area when printed, so  I couldn't; but perhaps I will later, for myself anyway! Maybe add a snake playing a harmonica too. Can't wait to see it printed. Art directed by Kelly Cunningham, who generously gave me carte blanche. 

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.