Gossip in the Locker Room

Ah, middle school.... Not always the most enjoyable period in a kid's life. Honestly, I would have to say that most kids in middle school find that the experience ranges from "confusing" to "cruel." Plus, that's when your body typically starts to rebel. Zits, deodorant, weird vocal intonations, braces.... It's as if in order to make the transition from "cute kid" to "sophisticated adult," we must first sped a few years in an awkward stage. What single scene can embody all of the insecurities of this life stage more than the locker room? Frankly, being the artsy-non-athletic type myself, the locker room was an especially unfriendly place. So for all of you nerds, fear not! I am living proof that middle school DOES end; math WILL come in handy, and you CAN get contact lenses. And for you few who are at the top of your game in 7th grade, be careful. Someday someone might paint an illustration about you.

So there is the inspiration for this piece. Otherwise, I had fun playing with the camera angles. Originally, I had placed the camera in a more typical position, showing the locker room scene as one would see it in real life. However, by adjusting the composition so that the camera is inside the locker, the illustration tells more of a story. We get to see the personal items that give us more insight to the main character's personality. Plus, this arrangement allows for the gossiping girls to be placed directly behind the main character, really giving that "talking behind someone's back" feeling. With all of these elements, we can begin to infer "story." They are in gym class, and the main character obviously feels awkward. What are those two girls planning? There is a note with a heart on it in the locker. Could those girls be spreading a rumor about our main character's love life? I found that as I worked on this piece, I started feeling a sense of "story" develop, and chose to add or take away details to allow that emerging scenario space to breathe.

Pirate School 7 Released

Just a short announcement that Pirate School 7 has been released today! This book is the Christmas story of the series, and tells the adventures of Pete and his friends as they sail to the North Pole....and get stuck there! This project afforded me many opportunities to draw my favorite character Inna in her new holiday outfit. The most challenging image, though, was a small spot image of the ship mast decorated like a Christmas tree. Well, the mechanics of that required a bit of creativity. How do you make a long wooden pole look like a Christmas tree....and using only supplies found on a pirate ship? Luckily, I live in Indiana, and every Christmas, Indianapolis lights its "Christmas tree"....the huge monument in circle in downtown Indianapolis. Really, they just string Christmas lights from the top of the monument downward in the shape of a cone. This served as inspiration for the mast-christmas-tree, only instead of creating a cone of electric lights, I used fish netting a roping from which the pirate kids could then hang ornaments. You'll have to look for this little spot art in the book! As for my favorite image in the book, that would have to be the one of Vicky and Aaron swashbuckling in their PJs on Christmas morning. If you would like to purchase your own copy of Pirate School 7, please visit my store, and scroll down to the Pirate School 7 purchase link.

New Moon Magazine Release

Hi everyone! Just an announcement that my artwork is appearing in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of New Moon. The magazine is available for purchase through New Moon's online store. The theme of this issue is "Things that go Bump in the Night." I had a whole lot of fun concepting for this cover. When I was little, I used to be afraid of the dark, and especially the strange shadows that you tend to see at night. For this artwork, I thought of those shadows coming to life on Halloween, dressing up in masks, and collecting dreams from sleeping children. Suddenly, those nighttime shadows don't seems so scary anymore....

In Memory of Katie

On July 21st this year, Katie McGee passed away at the age of 9. She was the daughter of our friend Bonnie, and the flower girl in our wedding. Shortly after the wedding, Katie was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. She had a very rough 3 years of treatment. Although she was positive and brave during this time, Katie lost her battle just before what would have been her final treatment, and passed away. It was Katie's desire to be cremated, and I was honored when her mother asked me to produce a piece of artwork to be engraved onto the urn's lid. Bonnie wanted a picture of an angel holding Katie's favorite bear. The line work had to be simple so that the wood carver could easily reproduce the drawing in wood. I was very glad when I showed Bonnie the artwork yesterday, and it was exactly what she wanted. There isn't much you can say when a child dies, but I am very glad to have been able to do this for Katie and her family.

End of the Hedge Maze

I work part time in the Young Adult Department of my local library, and am constantly surrounded by inspiration. These past few months, I've been reading "boy adventure" novels, such as "Airborne" and the "Pendragon" series, so that I can help those reluctant readers find books that might interest them. In doing so, I've really been inspired by steam punk and alternate/other worlds. So, I decided to incorporate those elements into my new piece. I wanted to capture feelings of discovery, challenge and even a little confusion. Setting the children in a hedge maze seemed like the perfect combination of quest and play. I also wanted to accomplish some portfolio-rounding-out with this piece by experiementing with different angles and colors. It was a bit of a challenge to set the piece at sunset and to keep control of what that would mean for the colors, but I am happy with the result. Overall, I am most pleased with the sense of "story" in this piece. Now if only someone would write the rest of the chapter so I can find out what happens to those two kids.....

Themes

I love it when a group of artists are given a broad theme and then have to each interpret that theme according to his or her own style. It is fascinating to see what each artist comes up with! This year, MB Artists is having their annual fall party for artists and art directors. The agency wanted each illustrator to create 2 small (printed at 1 inch x 1 inch!) pieces of line art based on the theme of transportation to be used on the invitation and other promotional give-away items. Working so small can be a challenge, because there is only so much detail that can be successfully included without cluttering up the work.

For my first piece, I wanted to highlight my favorite subject matter to draw - children. I did not want to picture any traditional form of transportation, and tried to think of something unusual, but recognizable. In the end, I decided on the segue, since kids are so embracing of new technology and the future. Plus, it's a really cool machine! For my second piece, I wanted to show that I can draw animals. Here, I wanted to get a little more playful. Because I love the porcupine from one of my portfolio pieces, I decided to experiment with his character a bit more in this assignment.

I wish I could see what all of the other artists created for their "transportation" line art. I am sure there are some really clever illustrations in the mix! I guess I'll just have to wait until September to see them all!

Expanding the Porfolio

Ah, freelance. You're either working until the wee hours of the night, or not at all! I'm in a bit of a lull right now, and while I am looking hopefully towards the horizon for the next project, I'm also enjoying the opportunity to build my portfolio with some personal pieces. Sometimes, it is more of a challenge to create concepts and illustrations out of thin air than to illustrate with a manuscript! So, I have been drawing inspiration from my own childhood memories and fantasies.

One of my favorite memories was of growing up in Boston. My brother, sister and I would spend so many weekends at the beach, perfecting the art of sand castle building, and digging deep moats to protect our creations from the tide. (The ocean always won out, by the way). One particular sand castle stood out. It was as tall as me (well, the 6 year old me), and we decorated it with all the shells we could find. It was magnificent. Looking back at photos, our castle was really just a very very large embellished pile of sand, but that does not seem to taint the vision that I still have in my mind. So, I painted "The Grand Castle" in honor of our childhood architectural achievement.

Like most kids, I went through a phase where I was obsessed with dinosaurs. I loved to explore the field across the street, and imagine that all of the rocks I collected were fossils. Of course, no 4 year old palentologist should exlore alone, so Dad would take me "trail blazing" across the uncharted territory of the field behind the middle school. I never did find a real dinosaur back there, but you never know where they could have been hiding. Perhaps during my next trip out to Boston, I'll stop by my field and take a look, just in case. Until then, my new "Trail Blazing" piece will keep the fantasy alive.

For my next trick, I will be working on some pieces with more unusual perspectives. I just need to play with some concepts and thumbnails. Stay tuned!