That's Silly, Beach Lake!

... and some Heidi and Zeke hidden pictures.

My latest That's Silly! illustration is in this July's Highlights High Five issue. I took inspiration from many childhood summers spent at Pennsylvania's Promised Land Lake and some more recent memories of Rickett's Glen Sate Park (seriously the most beautiful park in PA).

The Heidi and Zeke hidden pictures are from July's Highlights Eagle Eye Hidden Picture magazine. Unlike regular hidden pictures, short stories accompany the illustration. In the first one Heidi and Zeke help a troubled young girl find her bunny rabbit before her family goes on a long car trip. Second, Heidi and Zeke help the Zamboni operator find his lost keys so he can clean the ice for the kids to get back to skating. 12-14 other objects are also hidden in each of these illustrations but I did them so long ago that I can't remember where they are. Wink!

Birds Eye View

This busy piece appears in the May issue of Highlights High Five. The city is based on my hometown of Philadelphia. The original art can be seen below.

Latest published stuff...

Hi. I'm busy. Here's some fun stuff I recently did. Have a Merry Christmas!

A School Band What's Wrong? from January 2014's Highlights...

From Highlights Hidden Pictures Eagle Eye Books 3 and 4...

That's Silly, Carnival Midway!

My latest That's Silly! piece for Highlights High Five. It is in the June issue which is available now. Sketches and some roughs are below the final art.

Here are the roughs:

I liked this last rough (below) but felt the other compositions were easier on the eyes for the younger readers.

Below is the first sketch before being revised to suit the art director's request to make it less cluttered and some other minor changes. I was sad to see the stilt walker go but you've got to do what you've got to do. Hopefully I succeeded in making a non-creepy clown.

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That's Silly, Bumper Cars!

This piece was recently published in Highlights High Five. I had a lot of fun doing extensive research on retro bumper cars. I found that the modern ones were just plain ugly.

Make sure to get a Highlights subscription for the little ones in your life. They now have magazines for everyone from ages 2-12.

I need your help.

A friend of mine is in need of your votes! Vote for her group, The Dolls by scrolling down this linked page. I would really appreciate it. Please vote daily until January 30th. AJ (the girl in the blue shirt) has been a friend of mine for years. Her Father and her performed at my wedding.

After you vote come on back and check out some sneak peeks of stuff I've been working on. Thanks so much!

IF: Snow

It has been a long time since I submitted anything to Illustration Friday so I thought I'd post these three Highlights illustrations for the snow theme this week. Have fun finding all of the Silly/Wrong things!

Highlights Illustrators' Party 2012

The Highlights Illustrators' Party took place this past weekend! If you've been following me at all, you know it is something that I look forward to more than Christmas. 

I'll sum up: Each year Highlights magazine invites all of their illustrators to their headquarters in  Honesdale, PA. Besides having time to share portfolios there is an elaborate costume party, delicious PA dutch food and square dancing as well lots of fun children's activities. This year 's theme was Super Heroes. I went as my own superhero, Black & Blue- a take on my habit of constantly hitting my head. 

The illustrators were given a superhero sketchbook spec sheet to fill out (mine is below) which were collected into an awesome booklet/keepsake from the weekend. I used mine to add a deeper story to my costume as did some of the other illustrators...

Here are some photos of Black & Blue with his friends

(photos provided by myself and some very nice folks):

The Freelance League of America!

The Pink Pearl and I pose for villainy.

My daughter Virginia as the Polka Toddler!

The Luchadoro (aka illustrator Dave Klug) and I get ready to defend the street of Honesdale!

David Helton's wonderfully fun backdrop for the square dance and dinner.

My side kicks, the Freelance Pattern Posse! 

Striper, Pop Tartan and Polka Toddler aka my Mother-in-law, my wife, and my daughter.

R Michael Palan's Hungry-Man gives it to me good! Michael made this. 

I wish we set up about 200 others with everyone. They would be awesome.

The Revisionator (aka Rocky Fuller) poses with the Freelance Pattern Posse.

Friend and fellow crime fighter, Robert Squier made this shortly after we returned.

Taking a break with the Polka Toddler.

Command Z (aka Dave Justice) and I chat about the corruption in Honesdale. 

It was a very short conversation.

Black & Blue to the rescue!

Some more photos and a nice reflection on the HIP can be seen on Cheryl Kirk Knoll's blog.

Now, go get a subscription to Highlights for your kids, nephews, nieces, neighbors!

It's the greatest magazine in the world. Honest!

Those Silly Kites!

Who doesn't like to fly a kite? God knows I do. I own five and I always have them in the trunk of my car just in case the opportunity presents itself to fly. Keeping this in mind, you can understand why I over did it on the first draft of this That's Silly! illustration for Highlights High Five. I really wanted the perspective to be through the kites, as if you were up in the sky looking down on the people but it became too busy (especially for children under five years of age). In the first revision I tried holding on to some of that flavor but it was still too busy. Sadly even the New England town in the background had to be eliminated. What we ended up with, of course, is the final art above.

Some hidden tip of the hats: A Charlie Brown kite, Amir and Hassan's kite from the film The Kite Runner,  Voyager I and Drew Phillips of Ultimate Extreme Kite Flying. My father and I are flying the fish kite.

That Silly City Park!

I'll be quick since I'm quite busy and sick. February's Highlights High Five features one of my That's Silly illustrations (as well as my monthly work in the craft/cooking spread). Yay! My wife, daughter and myself can be seen walking below the center tree dressed in our usual cowhand gear. 

Interesting note: In the published art the parent and child crashing into the hedges at the bottom of the hill was removed.

Craft and Cook spread

For the past year or so I have been the illustrator of Highlights High Five's monthly craft and cook spread. One thing that I have discovered while working on these is that it is deceivingly hard to draw someone pouring something. Most of the time I find myself acting out the action in a mirror or googling an action online but photos like that are hard to come by. Also, with drawing these steps I found that I was drawing lots and lots of bowls, spoons, and measuring cups which brings up an interesting point: Why is it that the things that we look at every single day are the most difficult to draw? Cartoonist Chris Ware said he draws an everyday object everyday which I think is a wonderful habit to get into.

 Anyway, posted here are some of the many craft and cooking steps I have drawn...

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.