MeChan's Search Trailer

 One of the projects I've been working on over the past year is almost ready to be released.  Check out the trailer for MeChan's Search!  Japanese Language with English Subtitles!

Marvel Tribute Show Nov. 16th San Diego

Back in November, I had a piece up at the Marvel Tribute Show in San Diego, CA which was organized by a good friend of mine.  I'd been wanting to post about it, but didn't get a chance to until now.  For my illustration I worked in photoshop like I often do.  I didn't even get to attend the show in person, but my friend printed it out and framed it.  You can see it on the wall in the pic below and I think it came out looking good!

I have a really hard time drawing anything that isn't cute, so I when ahead and embraced the cuteness, picking May Parker as my heroine.  I decided to portray her rescuing cats who might have landed on their feet anyway, but appreciate not using up one of their nine lives regardless.

Below you can see my original sketch.  I usually start out pretty lose like this and do a lot of the real drawing and refining directly in photoshop.  I work with a wacom intus tablet.

Logo Design

Wow, it's been a busy year for me so far!  Hard to believe it's already March and this is my first post of the year.  I've been doing lots of animating and working on different art projects that I'm unable to share about yet, but I've recently finished some logos and web design related work.  Check out the banner I did for Fight Gamut: http://fightgamut.blogspot.com/

 

I actually did this logo for Libertyburg last year, and I'm glad to see it in use on their twitter page!

https://twitter.com/LibertyburgUSA
Trees definitely make for a captivating logo.

Comic Strip... Hobbit

Little Women Jo on fire!

 I've been a member of the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators) for a few months now, and they have some great awards and scholarships to apply for.  I recently applied for their mentor-ship program and today I turned in a submission for the Tomie dePaola Award.  The winter will get to attend the Winter Conference in New York for free.  With 300 entries last year, I'd be very surprised to win, but no matter the outcome I had so much fun with this challenge.  For this piece I had a choice between 3 novels to pick an excerpt from to illustrate in black and white.  I picked "Little Women."

Submissions are now closed, but you can read more about the award here if you're interested in applying for next year:
http://www.scbwi.org/Pages.aspx/Tomie-dePaola-Award

Joe Kitty

Joe kitty sleeping.. I love how relaxed he is.  This was a really quick sketch done on the closest scrap paper I could find.  I just couldn't resist capturing this pose.

Black River Falls Christkindl Market

 

Sat. Dec 1st, 2012 I had a booth at the Christkindl Market in Black River Falls, WI.  It was a wonderful event with music, dancers, food, horse-drawn wagon rides, reindeer, and even a camel for the kids to pet!  Unfortunately sales weren't that great and I about broke even including what I spent on gas and lunch.  It was a long, hard day!  Still, it was great to see so many happy faces of people genuinely enjoying themselves.  I wasn't sure I should have put up my "Subarashii" sign, thinking it didn't really fit in a German inspired festival, but they belly dancers preforming and polish sausage, so adding something with a Japanese flare couldn't have been that bad.  I even made up some special cards with Christmas greetings in German thinking it would be cool for the event, but I only got lookers, no buyers.  They're up for sale on the esty site now instead!

 Along with my art prints and cards I brought the Christmas ornaments I'd made a few years ago but never sold.  I even made a few new ones like this cute little Musketeer here. I'll be at another event this weekend, if I don't sell any of these ornaments I'll probably just give up on it and keep them for myself.  They are really fun to make, but a little time consuming. 

 I'm not sure if I'll have a booth at the Christkindl Market next year or not, but if I don't I'll probably still go to check out the festivities because it really is a fun event!
http://downtownblackriverfalls.com/christkindl