Sketchbook project

I just completed my sketchbook for the sketchbook project. As you can see by the cover my theme was "I remember you." I decided to make it into a comic strip book chronicling the many rejections I received from women over the years. In order to see the content you'll have to wait until it is visible on the website or in the tour starting in April.

Please let me know if I can see your sketchbook. Drop me a note!

Marriage Advice.

There is a story behind this one, bare with me or you really won't get it. On their wedding day my friends, Scott and Tracie, provided a book for the guests to write marriage advice. This October is their tenth anniversary so Tracie recently looked thought it and stumbled on this comic. I had forgotten that I had drawn it for them until Tracie showed it to me this past Sunday...

Now the story behind the punchline: During Tracie's weekend bachelorette getaway in a quaint cabin located at Nockamixon State Park, her soon-to-be husband Scott, myself and another friend, Michael traveled up for a surprise/prankly visit. To make a long story short we proceeded to scare Tracie silly by having Scott pop out of the woods dressed in a complete BigFoot outfit (one I still own to this day). The result was Tracie losing her mind, jumping on Scott and pretty much beating him up. It was kind of awesome. We have it all on tape.

After a nice letter explaining any marriage advice that I (as a single person at the time) could give, I drew them this comic...

I had my phone number listed for Scott which I blotted out for the post.

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...

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.