An avid ski enthusiast imagines a magazine for middle-aged skiers.
Latest editorial illustration for Ascent Backcountry Snow Journal. For an article imagining what a magazine (called Meadow Skipper) aimed at middle-aged skiers would be like, even suggesting various article topics like “How to make your beacon harness fit around your belly.” (My personal favorite!) Not being a skier myself, I had to do some research on what exactly a meadow skipper is. Turns out it refers to skiing gentle slopes and is something that many ski resorts offer for families with kids learning how to ski.
Cover art for Chicken Feathers. Written by Stephnie Cameron and illustrated by Scott DuBar. Published by Clear Fork Publishing.
I’m happy to announce that Chicken Feathers is now available from Clear Fork Publishing just in time for Christmas reading! This is my second children’s book, and my first chapter book. It’s a timeless tale of good fashion, dog rescuing, and standing up to bullies. Written by Stephanie Cameron.
Synopsis:
Lissy is a fashionista with a thrill for reuniting lost dogs and their owners. When she falls in love with her latest neighborhood rescue, she’s shocked to learn his owner is the one person in school she would never want to help. Will she hold herself together at the dog delivery of a lifetime? Based on a true story.
Logo design for an embroidered hat for skiers who have completed Andrew McLean’s chuting gallery challenge.
Happy Halloween! Got a chance to design my first skull logo, which made for a fun, little departure from children’s book illustration. The Chuting Gallery embroidered hat skull logo is meant as an exclusive reward for adventurous skiers who have successfully completed all the steep slope skiing runs featured in Andrew McLean’s popular book, The Chuting Gallery: A Guide to Steep Skiing in the Wasatch Mountains.
I created this logo using a combination of Clip Studio Paint (love the symmetry tool!) and Adobe Illustrator. Made the switch from Photoshop to CSP about a year ago and haven’t looked back.
Here’s a fun, little private commission I did recently. Two androgynous figures attached to magnets feeling their own form of magnetism. I’ve been using Clip Studio Paint a lot lately, and have really been getting into the awesome vector tools it has. Right now, the only drawback to CSP is that I have yet to find a set of brushes that can match the ones from Kyle T. Webster’s Megapack so I find myself still going back to Photoshop to add all my finishing touches. One of these days I may just have to roll up my sleeves and learn how to make brushes of my own, but until then I’ll have to settle for using Photoshop as a backup.
Illustration for the poem, Hello Up There!, from the children’s book Short Pump Bump by author Angie Miles and illustrator Scott DuBar.
I did this illustration about five years ago for my first children’s book, Short Pump Bump. This was actually the first illustration I did, which was done as a proof-of-concept for inserting cartoon characters into photos of well-known places in and around Richmond, Virginia.
At first, I was not very happy to see a Confederate statue was going to appear in the book. After giving it a lot of thought, I felt what better way to show the failure of white supremacy than to draw a healthy, well-dressed, well-educated, and well-loved black girl looking up at a statue that was meant to invoke fear, but rendered impotent and comical by a humble bird on its head?
Today that statue is no longer there! It is a long-overdue victory dear to my heart. America does not need monuments to hatred, brutality, and treason. We deserve monuments that remind us of the highest ideals and aspirations of all people. I am proud that the former capital of the Confederacy is now choosing to set a good example and to not allow itself to be defined by the mistakes of its past. Goodbye, Matthew Fontaine Maury. And good riddance.
Here’s a cute, little rainbow bee I did at the request of a client who loved my bee illustrations. After seeing it, though, she realized she wanted me to go in a different direction in terms of the overall design. I think she made the right choice since her bee character is part of a bigger project (more on that later!) and the new design fits in much better for that.
It will probably be awhile before I can share anything from the project this was intended for, so I thought I would at least share something fun from the initial design stage.
Author Angie Miles and I are happy to share a free coloring booklet featuring some of the characters from our picture book Short Pump Bump, available now in my shop as a PDF file parents can print out. It really is free, but you’ll still have to add it to your shopping cart and go through the motions of checking out (no credit card info needed).
I’ve done a lot of skiing illustrations for outdoor magazines like Utah Adventure Journal and Ascent Backcountry Snow Journal, but this is the first time I did an illustration of someday skiing down a sand dune in the Sahara desert! Ascent publisher Paul Oelerich asked me to do a t-shirt design for him after his recent trip to Morocco. He had originally planned on the more traditional mountain skiing, but due to a lack of snow, he decided to improvise and ski the Sahara instead.
Turns out sand dune skiing is really a thing. And, yes, people really do ski while wearing headscarves and Berber robes while their camels lazily gaze into the distance. I couldn’t be happier to get to illustrate a ski scene that takes place somewhere other than a field of white snow.
Editorial illustration for a Utah Adventure Journal article called Look Up about the lessons learned while taking an avalanche rescue course. The instructor hid the rescue beacon up in a tree, but the student is so fixed on staring at his beacon that he fails to notice it.
This was my very first 100% digital illustration done using Clip Studio Paint, my new favorite drawing program. Better than Photoshop in every way! And much more affordable. I was able to get the EX version for 50% off, so for $100 I now have streamlined my whole working process and get to forever avoid Adobe’s ridiculous subscription scheme.
Happy Valentine’s Day! This illustration, I Ski Because, was for an article on one man’s lifelong love for skiing, but I think it also works nicely for Valentine’s Day. Here’s hoping your Valentine’s Day is filled with the people, places, and things that you love most.
