Illustrator Saturday on Kathy Temean Blog

Every Saturday the wonderful Kathy Temean features an illustrator on her blog and shows off their talents.  This Saturday I was honored to be one of those illustrators. Click on the image below to visit  Kathy's blog and see her Illustrator Saturday post.

2nd Place in Logo Contest!!!

I found out yesterday that my logo for the annual NJSCBWI conference won 2nd place and will be printed on the bags going to all the attendees!! Below is a sneak peek of the bag from Kathy Temean's blog. Visit her blog here to see other winning logos.

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