Painting the opening spread

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And here is the painting—from The Really Awful Musicians—in progress. [slideshow]

The opening shot

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Here's the first spread from my upcoming book The Really Awful Musicians.  It's about what happens to a band of musicians—who play pretty badly—as they escape from a country where the king has banned all music. I drew the thumbnail sketch…

The Really Awful Musicians are coming…

Yes, the long-awaited soon-to-be-a-beloved-classic The Really Awful Musicians will be hitting the ol' bookshelves December 19th!  This is my first time out as both author & illustrator. If you happen to be in northwestern Pennsylvania…

Squid for lunch

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Here's a spread from Pirates Go To School.  The verse describes a pirate's lunch as slimy squid and crackers for their parrots—in the thumbnail sketch I drew squid on a cracker.  The art director asked me to show a pirate eating the squid…

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

It be Talk Like A Pirate Day, cullies!  What better excuse to while away the dogwatches with a copy of Henry and the Buccaneer Bunnies?  And finally—it's available in Chinese!

Today in 1803…

…Lewis and Clark shoved off from Pittsburgh's Point where the Allegheny and Monongahela join to form the mighty Ohio River. What better excuse to grab a copy of Lewis and Clark, A Prairie Dog for the President?

Churches in Venice

The blog Churches in Venice has a nice mention of The Famous Nini  here.

More ink

Pamela Paul reviews Pirates Go To School in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Thanks for the tip, Louise!

Dear T Rex

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Here's a scene from Dear Tyrannosaurus Rex where the kids slide down T Rex' tail.  Thumbnail sketch, tight sketch, final painting.

Pirates cover

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Here are 2 rough sketch ideas for the cover, the tight sketch, the color sketch and the painting in progress. Pirates Go To School is available tomorrow!