Transportation ABCs

While working on Road Work Ahead, I became a little bit obsessed with drawing vehicles. I was taking note of road side construction like I've never did before. So to continue my ABC series, I thought doing a set of transportation might be fun. 

You can check out ALL the ABCs I've done so far with a special page dedicated to it now on my website. And I'm happy to announce that the series are winners in the upcoming 3x3 children's show No.8!

My Sister, the Freak Pin Up Art

My Sister, the Freak is a web comic started by Dani Jones, a talented and super nice artist whom I got to meet this summer at Kids Read Comics. I am honored to do this pin up piece for My Sister, the Freak Vol.1 in paperback, which is on pre-order now. Check it out. I've always admired Dani's incredible motivation to get things done.

I took this opportunity to try out different techniques and style...so this piece looks a little different than my usual stuff. Yay or Nay?

Also I wanted to show off this original sketch card that Dani did for me (thank you, Dani-you are a good sport for humoring me with my chicken ways!)

That's My Folio

A quickie post to say that I'm on That's My Folio, a new website that showcases many talented illustrators and their artwork. Check it out!

Sneak Peek: art from Road Work Ahead

The release of my next picture book, Road Work Ahead, written by Anastasia Suen, illustrated by yours truly, is almost here! Its due out on September 15th, published by Viking. Here are some sneak peeks of the interior art.

Men working above
trim bushes and trees.

They put up lights
so you can see.

Men working below
using umbrella and hose.
How do they know
where everything goes?

Check out the Facebook fan page for activities, giveaways, news, and more. Only a month away before the book comes out :-)

Chef Kitty's top Secret recipe-as a print!

Thanks to They Draw and Cook, my chef kitty's top secret chocolate chip cookies recipe are now available as a print on canvas over at Great Big Canvas. Its also going to be in the book coming out in October!

What's Up + a New Book! Road Work Ahead

 
Wow! Has it been a month since I posted anything here? Well, I 'm still alive. This summer has a busy month with many things going on.

Along with participating in Kids Read Comics (where I met so many great comic artists,) I taught a drawing workshop at the Ann Arbor District Library, which was such a learning experience for me as well. Giving a presentation and teaching are definitely two different things. I was also invited to be on Comicsaregreat.tv with Jerzy Drozd and Ryan Estrada. You can watch the video here. We talked about networking and social media. Thanks guys. Jerzy has definitely got me a little less camera shy and somehow got me showing my real face on the internet. Ha.

And yes! A new book coming out in the fall! Its titled Road Work Ahead, written by Anastasia Suen and illustrated by yours truly, published by Viking. Its due to be released on September 15, and I'll be blogging alot more about it soon. In the meanwhile, check out:

• -The Road Work Ahead Facebook fan page (with news, updates, and related activities for the kids!)
• -This review on Publisher's Weekly

More later. Hope everyone is having a great summer. I just got back from a wonderful trip to PA and NYC visiting family and friends. Much needed. Now back to work.

Comic Jam! Exhibit

I've been a bit behind on blogging lately. Last weekend was a great time- here are some pics from the Comic Jam! Exhibit. (Courtesy of River Gallery)

I have two color pieces for the show, plus process sketches on the side.

This show really pushed me to explore one of my story ideas that were originally for a picture book. It was also nice to do a comic story in color, done in Illustrator, with a more muted color palette. Hope to continue with it and eventually have another comic book in the works!

Comic Jam! Exhibit + Kids Read Comics this weekend!

Its going to be a crazy and fun weekend! I'm honored to be part of this Comic Jam! exhibit now showing at the Chelsea River Gallery with 9 other artists, featuring:

• Dave Roman
• Raina Telgemeier
• Matt Feazell
• Kasey Van Hise
• Brandon Dayton
• Kim Holm
• Luis Escobar
• Anne & Jerzy Drozd 
• and yours truly.

The reception is this Saturday, 6/18 from 6-8pm. Thanks to Jerzy Drozd for the invitation. It was the push I needed to work on my comics in my color style, and I have two pieces in the show plus work-in-progress sketches.

What else is happening this weekend? I'm excited to be part of Kids Read Comics, a fun, free event that is happening this Saturday and Sunday, 6/18-19, in Downtown Chelsea, MI.  I'll be at the artist alley and also looking forward to doing some fun quick drawing demos with the awesome illustrator and comic artist Dani Jones. For more info, go here. See you there!

AADL Summer Reading Program

I had the honor to work with my local library, the AADL, to design and illustrate their summer reading games program. I'm a big fan of theirs. Ever since I moved to Ann Arbor 2 years ago, I had attended tons of interesting workshops and forums at the library. Not to mention, I gave my very own talk there. Check it out here.

And when they asked if I could do a Richard Scarry like town with many characters using the library in different ways- of course I'm on board! I initially did people:

And when I found out they were more interested in anthropomorphic animals- even better!

The final in color:

And speaking of libraries and anthropomorphic animals- I'm teaching a workshop! Its called Creating and Drawing Anthropomorphic Animals Characters with Jannie Ho. Its on Saturday, July 16th from 1to 2:30pm, at the Downtown Ann Arbor District Library. Its free for teens and adults to attend, so if you are in the area, hope to see you there.

Its National Donut Day!

I've been MIA but only to have this wonderful holiday to get me back to posting here, haha. Oh the things I learn from Twitter.

I've done this image for fun a while back and its perfect for today. Happy Donut Day!

Animals Crafting

Some fun illos for a local crafty place, Blue House Ann Arbor. Its hard to pass up drawing animals crafting. Nice to play with a more muted color palette to go with the distinctive blue color that they use.

Here's the back of the business card:

Blue House is a wonderful place where crafters can meet up, share their ideas, attend workshops, and more. Its been a great place where I've gotten to know many local and talented artists. And lucky me, I live very close by.

Playtime

A piece for our recent mailer over at Illustration for Kids, with a theme of "Playtime." Its been a while since I voluntarily did human kids for the mailer- anthropomorphic animals are always so much more fun. But I actually enjoyed this one and liked how it turned out.

The Sketchbook Project 2012

The Sketchbook project 2012 is here! After my amazing time with last year's book, its hard not to do it again. The theme I picked is Uncharted Waters, which fits my life so perfectly right now. A great excuse to continue with my comics. Now that this is the second time around, there are a few things I would like to do differently. Also the book is slightly smaller with fewer pages. Supposedly with better paper but its still seems a bit thin to me. Perhaps I can use another type of medium instead of microns.

Looking forward to this and hopefully I can do this with the same amount of energy and dedication as last time.

Kid's Drawings using my How-to Books!

"Octo-Monster"

"Pinball"

I think one of the most satisfying things about being a children's book illustrator is seeing kids interact with my books. I've been mentoring some fine young artists for the Ann Arbor Kid's Art Fair thats coming up in July. So I thought it was fitting that I gave them a copy of my You Can Draw Monsters and Scary Things and You can Draw Zoo Animals.

I was happy to see the step by step instructions worked! Just check out these drawings. Lookin' good!

 

Its been an interesting and also a challenging experience mentoring kids. I don't normally interact with kids on a regular basis in my normal day-to-day illustrator life, even though I do "kids' stuff" all day long. But kids' art are the BEST and I've got a talented bunch. Its an awesome dose of inspiration!

Food Icons

Some "grown-up" work! I illustrated these icons for Diabetic Living Magazine.

Spring Promo

The obsession continues-this time is Springtime ABCs!

What I have so far:
Animal ABCs
Christmas ABCs
Valentine ABCs

MoCCA Artfest Wrap Up

This weekend was the MoCCA Art Fest and it was so much fun, thank you for those of you who dropped by our table to come see me. I shared a table with two talented artists friends, Becky Munich and Doreen M. Marts- they made excellent table mates! We got a light blue table cloth which we thought really stood out with a ladies touch to it. Ha.

My goods!

I got to see so many old friends, colleagues, and artists whom I've gotten to known through the internet-in which I finally got to meet in person and they are all so sweet- Kelly Light, Renee Kurilla, and Casey Girard. Had some fun folks right across the aisle like Dave Roman and Ryan Sias. And many more friendly faces. Hello!

And this is why I thought about participating in MoCCA in the first place. I got my comic story, If You Lived Here, printed through Ka-Blam. Things were a little stressful as the books were shipped last minute to the hotel. I didn't get to see these until the morning of the show. But Ka-Blam came through and everything worked out. Whew! It was exciting to see that people browsing through it and I even sold some copies.

Lastly, I made this display sign for my evil robot and super cat buttons. A scoreboard to keep track of the battle. In the beginning, Super Cat was doing well but unfortunately Evil Robot took over. Final score in the end, 20 to 26. Evil Robot wins, for now!

It was truly a wonderful time and the MoCCA crowd is a supportive and friendly group, which gave me all the energy I needed to do more art. Until next year!

I'll be at MoCCA ArtFest this weekend!

 

This weekend I will be at the MoCCA Fest in NYC, sharing at table of awesomeness with Doreen Mulryan Marts and Pinky Buttons! We will be at Table J11.

 Please stop by and say "cluck cluck!" and I will give you a free sticker!

MoCCA Fest is being held at The Lexington Avenue Armory, 68 Lexington Avenue, between 25th/26th street, from 11-6pm. See you there.

Anagrams

 Anagram spots I recently did for TIME for Kids magazine. Clockwise from upper left: Rats/Star, Pan/Nap, Paws/Swap, Desserts/Stressed.

A New blog: Daredevil Chicken

Just a quick note here about a new blog I started with funny illustrator Scott Nelson as we collaborate on a 32-page picture book about a Daredevil Chicken. How will two illustrators with two different styles come together in a book? Please check it out if you love the picture book making process, creativity, collaborations, and a chicken in between.