Saucer Magnolia Flowers

Magnolia flowers

 8.5"x 12"

 colored pencils on toned paper

 

 

A small drawing of a Saucer Magnolia tree. These beautiful and enormous flowers don't last very long but seeing one of these trees in full bloom is truly incredible.

Charcoal Portrait

 Jake

9"x 12"

black and white charcoal pencil on charcoal paper

Not too long ago I found out about a great portrait artist named David Jon Kassan. I was really inspired by his great charcoal portrait drawings and decided to try it myself. I hadn't worked with charcoal since college and something about the messy medium caused me to stay away from it all this time. After drawing this little portrait it turned out that there's something I really enjoyed about blocking in tones and being able to pick out the highlights. Click here to visit David's website and see some of his amazing work!

Vote for the SCBWI Crystal Kite Awards!

If you're a member of the SCBWI don't forget to vote for the Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards! Round 1 of voting is underway now until March 15th! 
"The Crystal Kite Member Choice Awards will be given annually for best book as chosen by the members of each SCBWI Regional Division beginning in 2011 for first-run books published during the 2010 calendar year. "

Valentine's Day figure drawing

 

colored pencil on toned paper

10" x12"

2011

Above is a drawing from a Valentine's Day figure drawing session. It was the first time that I've been to a class where there were two models posing. They were wonderful models and made for an interesting drawing.

Groundhog Day!!!

Well, It's Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow predicting an early spring!

Of course Groundhog Day also means that this blog post will be about my book Mr. Groundhog Wants The Day Off. 

I decided to share a few images on how one of the double page spreads developed from concept to final painting. If you'd like to buy the book just click here and visit the Rave Tree Press website. Order a book and while you're there click on the Activity Sheet link and download some Groundhog Day history; fun activities; a coloring page; and a fun smoothie recipe for the kids!! Enjoy!

 

original concept sketch

 final sketch

with text

original paintings

final book spread with text

"Ungainly Grace"

 Ballpoint pen

 4" X 6"

 Above is a sketch I did a while back from a National Geographic article and have always wanted to share it. 

I'm a sucker for good writing and loved the article written by Mel White. It inspired me to do this little sketch 

and made me look at this unique creature in a different way. Hope it does the same for you. :) 

                                                              

 "The pelican inspires laughter and wonder, and, maybe even more, a kind of affectionate empathy: After all, who among us hasn't at times felt awkward and unlovely, and yet imagined that - given room to stretch our wings - we just might be beautiful."~Mel White

         

You can read Mel's article here.

The Soul of a Tree

"There is no such thing as a great talent without great willpower."
~Honore de Balzac

I'm back after neglecting my blog for a while. Below is a little drawing of a tree that I always notice outside my window. It looks like such a character and I enjoy seeing its changes every season. Yesterday I noticed he looked extra grumpy as the snow piled up on top.

The Soul of a Tree
Colored Pencil on Toned Paper
2011


The phenomenon of seeing faces or shapes like this has been explained as
Apophenia, which "is the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data."
If you'd like to see some wonderful examples visit this blog post by James Gurney.