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: