Here are the last of my Inktober illustrations. I had such a great time doing these and am a little bit sorry to see this year’s challenge come to a close. Drawing challenges are a great way to improve as an illustrator, as I learned awhile back when I did my first 365 Drawing Challenge. I’m already looking forward to next year’s Inktober! Until then, here’s a couple of my favorites from week four:
You can see the rest of these in my Inktober 2018 Gallery.
My latest illustration fro UAJ, Burning Sean, required a bit of extra care. It’s for an article about a perfectly innocent yearly pre-ski season ritual/party gone wrong. It also involves a bunch of drunken white dudes with tiki torches burning an effigy of their soon-to-be-married friend, Sean. As a long-time resident of Charlottesville, Virginia, I have to say I had some apprehension about depicting white guys with tiki torches burning something that could easily be mistaken for a cross (Which is where all of the humor of the article come from). Part of my solution was to make sure the effigy clearly had a pair of legs. This would ensure that it had more of a star-shape. The next was to give the effigy some ski poles. The last was to make sure the white dudes looked as drunkenly cheerful as possible. In the end, I think it all worked out pretty well.
Here is a bookmark I created for the Read Local Challenge, hosted by the SCBWI MD/DE/WV/VA. It’s one of several that were created by illustrators whose books are part of the reading challenge. The bookmarks are all black and white so that kids can color them in, but I figured “why should they have all the fun?” and colored one myself.
If you live in Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, or Virginia, and are interested in your kids or their school participating, you can learn all about it at the SCBWI MD/DE/WV/VA Read Local Challenge webpage. They have a great selection of fantastic children’s books that range from picture books (Like my very own Short Pump Bump!) to middle grade to young adult.
If you want to download a printable version of my bookmark or any of the other awesome bookmarks so you can color it yourself, go here.
Here’s a chubby, little, blissful bumblebee wallowing in a bed of fresh pollen. I wanted the bee to look like a fat cat getting its head scratched. My dad used to say that every living thing just wants its head scratched. One day a bumblebee landed in front of him while he was gardening and looked, to my dad at least, like it wanted its head scratched. So he reached out with a finger and scratched the bee’s head. Rather than sting my dad, it just sat there and happily got its head scratched. I like to imagine that this is what that bee looked like. Just a fat, cute, blissful bumblebee.
Below are a few images of my work in progress. I usually start with a digital sketch and once I’m happy with it, I’ll print it out. From there I’ll trace it, refining the drawing as I go. Next, I ink the drawing using a crow quill pen. Lastly, I scan the finished drawing into Photoshop and add the color digitally.
Here’s a pair of cute cacti enjoying their time to bloom in the desert. When I was growing up, my dad always had at least one cute little cactus as a houseplant. They were usually round and hairy and had funny names like ‘Herbert’ or ‘Cousin It.’ It wasn’t until we moved to Texas, where we had a little cactus garden, that I learned that they also can produce amazingly beautiful flowers.
Scroll down to see some of my drawing process.
While I was working on this, my wife fell in love with these two characters so much that I decided to surprise her with a framed print for her birthday. Here it is sitting in her office:
Recent illustration for Utah Adventure Journal. The article is about how most people who go to Utah for a job only plan on staying there for a few years before moving on. However, the ones who are into skiing usually end up staying for all the awesome skiing Utah has to offer.
I had the wonderful opportunity to illustrate a set of twelve comic book style numbers for the upcoming issue of SCBWI’s mid-Atlantic magazine, The Highlighter. The numbers were for an article on twelve tips for writing graphic novels, by Eisner Award-winning author Paul Tobin (Bandette, Plants vs. Zombies). I have to say it was a real honor to be able to prove artwork for such an accomplished writer!
Many of the number designs are inspired by popular superheroes, such as Superman, Batman, Iron Man, The Human Torch, and X-Men’s Nightcrawler. Admittedly, the Fantastic Four one is a little on the nose but I’m still happy with how these all came out. You’ll have to be a SCBWI member to read the article, but you can check out larger versions of my artwork in the gallery below!
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This editorial illustration was for an article about a father, and avid outdoorsman, who felt intimidated by the impressive amount of scrapes and bruises his toddler was accumulating from his activities, while Dad had no such mementos of his own adventures. Was he playing it too safe? Had becoming a dad cost him his outdoorsy edge?
I’m not exactly sure a toddler is old enough to manage a Big Wheel, but I really liked the idea of a toddler dressed like a bad-ass biker.
Wonder Realtor, Part 3 came out yesterday in this week’s C-ville. I decided to change things up a bit this time and went for a comic book cover approach. Given all the various powers being highlighted, there really wasn’t room to take a story based approach. All in all, I think it worked out really well and gives that feeling of a comic book packed with action and adventure that I was going for. Right now, there’s just one more ad to go. If Heather gets enough votes and wins Best Realtor, then I may get to do an additional Wonder Realtor ad. Keeping my fingers crossed!
I’ve included below a gallery of all the little action scenes from the ad, along with a work in progress image, and a shot of the ad from this week’s C-ville.
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I got inspired by this week’s Illustration Friday challenge, team, to do a bunny soccer team. These challenges are a great opportunity for me to have fun exploring my Megapack digital brush set from the awesome Kyle T. Webster.