The Year Without a Santa Claus opens with a long shot of Santa Claus’ house—the establishing shot, as they say in the movie biz. It’s early morning, dark, with light coming from one bedroom window—the only warm spot in the picture. For Santa’s house I looked to the architecture of northern Europe and Russia, cultures […]
A bunch of sketches for The Year Without A Santa Claus jacket art. In the first few I was trying to summarize the story: Santa is too tired and cranky to deliver presents this year. They don’t work well because they don’t look fun. Jim McMullan, the Broadway poster illustrator told me a story about […]
How fun is this? Henry & the Crazed Chicken Pirates has been translated into Greek! Kudos to the designer who morphed my title lettering into Greek characters. UPDATE—my friend Trip (who is a pastor and studied Greek in seminary) says that last word ∏EIPATE∑ is pronounced ‘pay-ee-rah-tays’. Turns out ‘pirate’ is originally a Greek word, […]
Painting a 32-page picture book is a huge time-consuming project. When you’ve been coloring the same scenery and characters for 2 or 3 months the charm wears off. This is dangerous, because it’s important for each image in the book to look as fresh & lively as every other one. It’s best that all the […]
Interviews, updates and art tips from America’s hottest illustrators’ organization. Get your copy here, hot off the press!
Three thumbnails, one tight sketch and final art from Turkey Day.
Another set of thumbnails, tight sketches and finished art from Turkey Day! The text called for a turkey marching band—so naturally they had to be from Cranberry High School, right?
Another scene from Turkey Day—three thumbnail sketches, one tight sketch and the final of a turkey ballerina.
More from Turkey Day—thumbnail sketch, tight sketch and finished painting. Notice the difference between the tight sketch and the painting. I left out the stop sign and pushed the red car to the left so that nothing important is in the gutter—the area in the middle where the left and right pages are bound together.
Some good advice for aspiring children’s illustrators about what to include in a portfolio over at Jennifer Represents… Hat tip: Tracy Bishop
