Christmas Card 2011

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was fun and chaotic which is just the way life is when you have a 2 year old. Here's the christmas card/booklet I sent out two days after Christmas which folks should have received by now...

Promo postcard- part 2

I forgot to post this so here you go! This is the other side of my promo postcard created specifically for the Highlights folks. There are some inside jokes here but I think if you are an illustrator or are familiar with Highlights magazine then you will probably see the humor.

Sneak Peek!

Here are two sneakity peekities at some upcoming illustrations I did for those wonderful folks at Highlights. The top one is for High Five and the bottom is for Highlights. Both will be available in April, 2012. Can you guess what satellite is pictured above? Keep in mind that the solar panel on the left was added to make it look more "visually acceptable." Hint: It is the most distant man made object from earth at 8.7 billion miles.

Below are some cute bunnies. The chocolate bunny snuggling up to the guy made this illustration for me. It was actually one of those happy accidents while I was drawing it.

Summer Memory (before it's too late)

I drew this sometime during the summer when my family and I were down the shore in Delaware. It's of my daughter and I after a long day at the beach with my attempt at hosing her off. I thought I'd have time to finish it as a little comic, but considering winter is just around the corner I can't imagine that is going to happen. Perhaps this comic is best left as is...

B is for babies.

When my daughter was born some of my Highlights illustrator friends created art for my daughter in celebration. My wife and I received several pieces of original art created by some of the best Highlights' illustrators which, as you can imagine, was one of the most touching things anyone had ever done for us. I think I cried for about two weeks as they came in. It was overwhelming.

Now, two years later, it has become a tradition. Friends and illustrators, Nancy Cote and Linda Weller recently became grandmothers so I, along with many other wonderful illustrators, choose a letter of the child's name and created a piece around it. The first piece (R for Harper) was created for Nancy who wanted a pumpkin theme to carry through all of the illustrations. The Y was created for Linda Weller. I'm currently in the process of creating a T hidden picture for illustrator Tim Davis who recently became a grandfather. Congratulations to them all and special thanks to Anni Matsick for getting this fun tradition started.

What's Wrong, Cattle Drive?

On the back cover of the November Highlights is one of my favorite What's Wrong? illustrations to date. It was so much fun to research and put together. My wife and daughter can be seen on the horse to the back left.

Below is the line art. Sometimes I don't complete the background because I want to keep it free of line, that way it stays in the back. When I get the time I do finish up the line art just in case anyone ever decides to buy it.

The sketch is below. You'll probably note the major difference of the adding of the horns to that cattle but what you may look over is the removal of all of the udders. Ha ha!

Promo Postcard

I recently drew this for a promo postcard. I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog in a while, I was off fighting some deadlines and the general zaniness that is my life.

Some summer sketches.

I did these sketches over the summer in Philadelphia, Portsmouth, NH, and Dewey Beach DE. Sorry, I don't have time to clean them up so I'm just going to post them as is. 

Ultimate Extreme Kite Flying! Hurricane Edition.

This is what my friends and I do during Hurricanes because we are ULTIMATE! We are EXTREME! Kind of makes you question your manliness doesn't it?

MOBILE VERSION

That's Sneaky!

Please forgive my lack of post, I have been plenty busy with some fun stuff for Highlights. Here's a little peak from an upcoming That's Silly! to be featured in Highlights High Five's February issue. 

Street Hockey!

This What's Wrong? is on the back cover of September's Highlights for Children that should be available now on newsstands. Once again I drew inspiration from my life in Philadelphia and the many sports we would play together. I think street hockey was everyone's favorite which was usually played in alley ways such as this one here. Alleys can be kind of magical places if the lighting is right - you get the sun bouncing all over the place from the reflections in the windows and the shafts of light pour down much like they would in a narrow canyon in the southwest.

By far my favorite thing in this piece is the break dancing mice in the right corner. Sometimes it's the little things, you know? In this case, hairy little things in track suits.

Sketching video.

I recently had to record myself sketching for the nice folks at Graduates Payment System. I've never done anything like this before so there was a bit of a learning curve sorting everything out. I was given a written script and did some sketches before hand. Other than that, there was no plan. As you can see it had to be shortened quite a bit...



Here is the slower test version I made for myself:

New website!

It's been a long time coming but my new website is finally up and running. Yay! Please stop by and let me know what your thoughts are or if you run into any problems. Thanks!

3D Glasses not necessary!

 I have been holding on to this for a while. Toward the beginning of the year I got involved in some fun facebook shenanigans in which the first four people on your comments would receive something homemade in the mail. Of a few of the lists I made it onto, brilliant sculpture, fellow highlights artist and friend, Helena Bogosian, was one of them. I had no idea what to expect. Sometime a few weeks ago the sculpture below showed up in the mail. Upon opening it I literally screamed and laughed with excitement. Helena had taken my drawing of the Dirty Student (as seen below the photos) from my book, Which Art Student Are You?, and turned it into a three dimensional piece! It is honestly one of the coolest things I have ever seen and it is extremely touching. Thank you so very much, Helena! You're awesome!

Give me a home...

I don't know what my fascination with the wild west is but I'm partly convinced I was born in the wrong state and at the wrong time. In 2003 I went on a solo camping trip to Wyoming and I just never felt at home here on the east coast. Late last year I discovered that my great - great - grandfather, Luke Dillon, was an army cavalrymen stationed in Wyoming so maybe it's just in my blood.

Giddyup.

I am working on something extra fun.

That Silly Parade!

Drawing a marching band is not easy. So much research was involved in making this as believable as possible, from the individual instruments to how to correctly hold them. I've really only ever played some guitar so my wife's knowledge of these instruments was invaluable to me. This piece is currently in the July 2011 issue of Highlights High Five which is available now.

I put a lot of cameos of family and friends in this one. The band is loosely based on my wife's high school, North Penn and their Marching Knights, of which she was a member. My wife can be seen playing the clarinet with holly attached to her hat. My Grandfather (of whom I am named after) can be seen on the left with my Grandma Vi. The four children sitting on the curb (one has a horn) are of myself (I'm wearing the Canada cap), my two brothers and my sister. We would often go to parades that were just up the road from us on Frankford Avenue in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia. Some of my nieces and nephews are pictured as well as a couple of friends with their kids. 

Here is the line art:

Subtract.

Sometime last year Illustration Friday's theme was subtract. I submitted the image below but I found it confused people more than made them laugh. I eventually removed it. I didn't want anyone to think I was being gross. I just thought it was a funny thought that the Love is couple were Ziggy's parents since they don't wear pants. That was IT. Honest, you sickos. Perhaps I was just missing my older target audience who actually remembered the comic strip, Love is?

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is to show you the sketches below. I'm currently building my new website and I stumbled on them while looking for some files. I thought they were pretty funny and I may do more.

Leonardo.

Hello everyone! I recently became a member of the Autumn Society so I could participate in the Ninja Turtle tribute. Thank you for the invite, Jeffro and Chogrin! I hope to contribute to other events as well.

Back story:

In 1986 my older brother came home with the comic book, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (issue 7). Prior to seeing the TMNT comic my only real exposure to comics was in Mad Magazine. This was a turning point for me. I had always liked drawing but I never seemed to know where it would go. The TMNT comic, as well as the artists at Mirage Studios, inspired me more than I could ever explain here. 

I have always preferred the raw grittiness of the original b+w comics hence the flavor of my illustration. I drew this sketch back in 2003 but put it to color in the past week. I hope everyone enjoys my piece. This is illustration is out of the norm for me so it was a lot of fun to work on. I may have to do more.

Also, I have to mention that I had a one shot comic in TMNT #57 back in '96 that can be seen on my blog here if you're interested.

I will be at the Autumn Society Ninja Turtle tribute art show in Philadelphia this Friday, June 3 (more info below) from 6 - 9pm. I will be selling this piece at the show in a nice expensive frame. I'm not sure if it is okay to sell prints but I will find out asap. I will also have copies of my Which Art Student Are You? book (as seen on the right side of the blog) for purchase. Look for the short guy wearing the green TCRI canister shirt. Really.

Cruise Sketches.

Daisy and I went on a southern Caribbean cruise last week. These are some of the sketches I did while laying on a beach chair doing nothing but people watch.