Unfortunately, I am no longer illustrating a children’s book for Tanglewood Press. The break was a somewhat unexpected and can only be ascribed, I suppose, to a difference of artistic vision. We parted ways after I had completed and submitted the final art for the cover. I was quite happy with the work, but the publisher felt it was not quite what they needed. Of course I am now anxious to see the book published and on the shelves just so I might see what sort of imagery they were shooting for.
Here I’ve posted what little I feel I can rightly reveal of the cover art work that I completed for Tanglewood Press. Yes, I know, it doesn’t show much, but to reveal anymore would not be quite fair to the author, I think.
And I must say that Tanglewood did pay me for my work and were very prompted in doing so. I can’t complain about that.
There were two blessings from this experience. The first is a new way of working which I am anxious to employ again. The second is that my schedule is now free to take up a new project which has come my way. But I will have more to say about that as things develop.
My first class at MICA met last night. So far so good. The students were great at the very least for patiently awaiting my very long monologue to end. Oddly enough Labor Day wipes out next week’s class and so we won’t meet again for two weeks. Over those two weeks I’ve got them illustrating Aesop’s fable, The Fox and The Grapes. In the meantime I’ve got more sketches to do myself. I think I’ll go work on that now.
It may be quite some time before I am able to post any new illustrations here on my site. For the next four months I will be busy teaching at MICA, working on contract at ADG Creative and creating illustrations for Tanglewood Press. I suppose I might create a thing or two as I teach Intro to Illustration, but the work I do for Tanglewood won’t be seen by the outside world until it is published in 2012. Of course if the movie is correct nothing will be published in 2012. And the work I create for ADG won’t be posted here, but instead I will be posting that on Cloverfish.com as it will all be web oriented – at least I think so.
Anyway, in the meantime I plan to post videos that encourage creativity and instruct in the art of illustration. So pretty soon I should have a good resource for myself if not for any visitors to the site.
Tanglewood Books
Last week I agreed to illustrate a children’s book for Tanglewood Press and yesterday morning I signed and mailed the contract, so now it’s official!
Perhaps the most well known book in Tanglewood’s catalog is The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn. It’s always nice to know I’ll be in good company. Of course I can’t say much about the book I will be illustrating except that it will likely be published in fall 2012. However, I can say that upon my first reading of it I liked the story very much. I didn’t have to convince myself of that. Visually speaking, it is just the sort of story that I would like to illustrate. It will be a 32-page picture book – so there’s a lot of work to do between now and then. And while I’ve lately been experimenting digitally, I think it best if I use traditional pastel.
In other news, this past weekend I completed a Wizard of Oz poster for a charity. This morning I dropped it off and they were very pleased indeed. I will try to post it here on the site by the end of this week.
Rhino Riders 2
Ever since my first Rhino Riders illustration I have been meaning to do more. Of course now I’m rendering my storybook illustrations digitally. This one… well, I have mixed feelings. I was really excited about the line drawing, but the coloring, not so much. Maybe it’s too vibrant. I have leanings toward muted and monchromatic palettes sometimes. Well anyway, it’s done for now. Time to move on.
This image is a detail. You may view a larger image here, or you may view a much, much larger image here.
Recently I’ve been making an effort to create a post for each illustration I’ve created. For some crazy reason I want my work to not only be archived in my galleries but also as posts. Don’t ask. Anyway, it came to mind that as I continue to post these older works they are gradually burying my newer work about which I’ve already posted. Most people probably wouldn’t care so much, but … continue reading »
Amish Breakfast
Today I completed the very tedious process of creating a new gallery for my editorial illustration. Not fun. It’s not so much the creation of the gallery but it’s the addition of all the images. Each image must be resized – and sometimes cropped, and each image must have a corresponding thumbnail image. Then each image must be represented on the gallery page and properly linked to its individual page displaying the full-sized image. And finally, all the images need to be imported into the WordPress media gallery for good measure. sigh.
So glad it’s over. Anyway, you can view all these illustrations in the Editorial Gallery.
Medieval Mouse Archer
No doubt many people would not have know or would not have cared, but my original version of this mouse archer was drawing the arrow in a most impossible way. Only days after I posted this did it dawn on me.
You can find the revised version of this mouse in my Fantasy Illustration gallery.
Mind you, I like to shoot arrows whenever I can, but I just didn’t think it through when I positioned his hands. Now I can rest easy knowing that the little guy his a better chance of hitting his mark. And hopefully I’m not the only one who can picture him in a children’s storybook.
Anyway… about this illustration… lately I’ve been having fun working digitally and this fox is my latest creation. Well, actually the dragon sketch which is the background image of this website is my latest… but anyway?
You will find this fox in my Fantasy Gallery.
Fox Thief in Forest
So when I sat down to draw all I really knew was that I wanted to draw a fox. What he would look like or be doing was, at best, vague in my mind. In the end I was quite pleased. Not only did I like the scene, but also the style. I tried to work a little more loosely than when I use pastel. I’m not very loose with the pastels, to say the least. These digital experiments have been great in that respect because I always know that I can completely rework something without the loss of much time. Not so with pastels.
Don’t get me wrong. I love pastels. Staring over my shoulder even as a type is a pastel portrait that I’m very anxious to get back to. There’s a show in June for which I need to complete it.
Medieval Mouse Archer
With the launch of the newly designed site I have sorted my work into six galleries, including: Fantasy, Fables, Classic Tales, Animals, Portraits and Sketchbook.
Naturally I want to add to each gallery, but the Fantasy gallery is likely to get the most attention. After that maybe Fables as I’ve always liked Aesop’s fables if not simply because the so often feature animals. Anyway, the separate galleries seemed like a good step toward clarity. I like clarity.
Hodgepodge
Hodgepodge is what you would call a Fussig faery (ain’t got no wings) in the realm of Mieradome. He is something of a clan leader if I recall correctly. And he is just one of eighteen character portraits for which Kate O’Hegarty commissioned me. They do not appear in the recently published book. They were for the official Mieradome website.
View the full image.
Kaiser Holstalken
Kaiser Holstalken is, as you might guess, a nasty sort of fellow. I don’t know much about him, but I think the eyes are a hint.
View the full image.
Inocian of the e-novel Mieradome
I recently completed 18 character illustrations for Kate O’Hegarty’s young adult e-novel, Mieradome. I’ve posted my favorites here on my site – see my Fantasy Illustration gallery – and the others may be found on the official Mieradome website.
I’ve just begun working digitally and I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out. There’s no denying the speed and flexibility of the digital world. Still, there is the sadness of having no physical work of art to hold in my hands or to frame and hang. In the future I think the digital will not just be a new medium for me, but also be a help to my pastels. It will be quite handy for working out color schemes and contrast. I’ll never give up my pastels.
Maryland Institute College of Art
The Maryland Institute College of Art has invited me to teach Intro to Illustration next Fall 2010. Originally I was to teach two classes, but some departmental reorganization has taken place since I was first contacted and so I will now teach only one class – Intro to Illustration. I believe it will work out great. To say the least I am honored and excited. These last few weeks I’ve been popping in to observe classes with José Villarrubia and Warren Linn. They’re both great teachers and wonderful mentors.
The Children of Kinsley House. A Tale of Redemption
This beautiful tale of redemption captures the essence of the redemption through Jesus life, death and resurrection. Told in allegory form the story is a fresh new way to impart the grand story of redemption to your children this Easter.
Written by David Sutherland. Illustrated by Jeffrey Brian Fisher. Published by Imagine Kids Company Ltd, 2009. 48 pages hardcover with 24 pastel illustrations.
The book may be purchased through Focus on the Family New Zealand.
The Queen's Croquet Ground
Here is the fifth of six illustrations for a children’s pop-up book called Step Inside: Alice in Wonderland. The book series was published by Fernleigh Books in U.K. However, Fernleigh now goes by the name Cat’s Pyjamas. I had hoped that the series would be picked up in the U.S., but it looks like that fell through. It was very sad. Anyway, the images I have been posting are Photoshop composites. Each layer of the pop-up had to be illustrated separately. Meaning, the grass and the cat were drawn on one piece of paper, Alice on another, the hole another, and the rabbit’s hallway another. Each scene has four layers. I attempted to photograph the page, but it didn’t work so well. In the end I decided it was best to composite the layers in Photoshop and give each layer a subtle drop shadow to indicate the intended depth of the page’s layers.
You may view Alice here.
Who Stole the Tarts
The final illustration of six for Step Inside: Alice in Wonderland. Published by Fernleigh Books in U.K. Fernleigh now goes by the name Cat’s Pyjamas. I suppose I should post the ISBN. Hmm… maybe later. If you want to see the cover of the book – other than on this site – go to CatsPyjamasBooks.com. If you don’t see my work on the home page then check out the Classic Tales section.
This image is a Photoshop composite as each layer of the pop-up had to be illustrated separately. Each scene has four layers which had to be illustrated on four separate pieces of paper. I attempted to photograph the page, but it was a bit tricky. In the end I decided it was best to composite the layers in Photoshop and give each layer a subtle drop shadow to indicate the intended depth of the page’s layers.
You may view Alice here.
Step Inside: Alice in Wonderland
A wonderful retelling of a timeless classic featuring beautiful pastels illustrations – each a 3D scene composed of four separate layers. 12 pages with six 3D illustrations, including the cover. Please contact Cat’s Pyjamas for distribution information.
You may view these six illustration in my Classic Tales gallery.
