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!

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.

What's Wrong, Southwest Ranch?

Yee-haw! This is my latest What's Wrong? to be published by those wonderful folks at Highlights for Children! It can be seen on the back cover of the September issue which should be available now.

This one really had me missing the Southwest. My alter ego, Ranger Kent, can be seen teaching some kids how to lasso, and my wife's alter ego, Cowgirl Pearl, is riding a reindeer. As previously posted, the famous racehorse, Secretariat, is on the lower right.

The first sketch is posted below. You can see some of the major changes that needed to done to complete this one. Most notably the switching of Pearl and the Ostrich which really did improve the composition. The funniest correction I thought was that the sunbathing roadrunner because he looked like he was dead. I couldn't make myself get rid of him entirely so I moved him next to the birds listening to the boom box in the final art.

Click here if you'd like to get your kids a subscription to Highlights for Children. Don't subject them to only seeing Highlights when they are sick or about to get their teeth drilled. That's not very nice, is it? Be a good parent.

Dogs + Cowboys = Happy.

This is part of a big sketch I just finished for Highlights for Children. I'm waiting to get approvals before showing you the whole thing, of course, but I just wanted to share this dog with you. It makes me laugh. Nothing makes me happier than drawing cowboys and dogs.

Old fang.

Recently I noticed that some blogging illustrators took to drawing their, "teenage-selves." I went the other route...