A Basketball Story – Interior 10

December 20, 2021December 19, 2021Leave a comment

Here’s the 10th interior.

The coach substitutes at the Sea Turtles’ school and observes that the team is really working well together. They’ll be a real challenge to the Jackrabbits next time they face them.

The coach stands inside a brick building, looking out the window. Outside, the Sea Turtles youth basketball team practices on the blacktop court on the playground.

A Basketball Story – Interior 9

December 19, 2021December 19, 2021Leave a comment

Oh, I’m sorry. I got a bit distracted over Thanksgiving and didn’t get around to posting the rest of this series. Here’s the 9th interior.

From A Basketball Story, a picture book I illustrated for Entrepreneur Media Inc.

The Sea Turtles have heard that the Jackrabbits get a trip to FUNZone if they win all their regular season games. They’re determined to stop that. I intentionally chose to depict the two huddles, essentially the same pose but with different characters, from two different views.

A three panel comic strip illustration. The first panel shows 5 members of the Sea Turtles team huddled together with a speech bubble saying, "NO FUNZone FOR THEM!" The second shows a view from inside the jackrabbit's huddle, looking up. Five members of that team are saying, "FUNZone!" The last panel shows after the game with the Jackrabbits victorious and the Sea Turtles defeated. The Jackrabbits are mostly all standing with fists raised in triumph, but with one hugging another player and another actually leaping in the air. One of the Sea Turtles has their head in their hands, crying. One comforts another teammate. And another walks away.

Monsters Go – Lily N.

December 17, 2021Leave a comment

Today I participated in the Monsters Go illustration prompt. That’s where professional illustrators recreate monsters drawn by children.

This week’s art was by a kid named Lily N. Here was her drawing:

A child's crayon drawing of a monster by kid artist Lily N. It's a purple monster with a lot of eyes, blue feet, and turquoise shaggy things in it's hands. — Art by Lily N.

And here’s my version of it:

My version of the many-eyed monster from the previous drawing in a professional style. I interpreted the shaggy things to be some furry things it's juggling. They also have eyes. — Art by Karen B. Jones

And here’s a link to Monsters Go on Instagram.

A Basketball Story – Interior 8

December 1, 2021December 1, 2021Leave a comment

Here’s a two-page spread. You can see the kids are goofing off. Not really doing any harm, but not doing what they’re supposed to be doing either. In the story, at this point, they’re starting to think they’re undefeatable and they don’t have to work at it anymore. This will cause problems later.

Again, this is from the latest illustration project I finished, A Basketball Story, for Entrepreneur Media Inc.

An illustration of the corner of a school gymnasium. A kids' basketball team lounges around and goofs off. The scoreboard shows that they won the last game by 20 to 7. The coach looks on in disapproval.

A Basketball Story – Interior 7

November 28, 2021November 19, 2021Leave a comment

This image covers about a page and a half, with the gutter running between the boy leaning against the wall and the poster. The gray wall color extends all the way to the left, with text overlaid in that empty space.

Aside from the cover, this is our first and only close-up of members of the Sea Turtles team. They’re discussing how, if they work very hard, they can keep the Jackrabbits from going 10 – 0 for the season.

Again, this is for the picture book, titled A Basketball Story: Always Be Humble, which I just finished illustrating for Entrepreneur Media Inc.

In a school hallway, three members of the Sea Turtles basketball team stand around a poster showing the Mid-Season League Standings for four teams. One boy leans on the wall, the girl has her hands on both boys shoulders. And the other boy faces away from the viewer with one hand in a fist.

A Basketball Story – Interior 6, Right Side

November 27, 2021November 19, 2021Leave a comment

Here’s the right side of the interior I posted yesterday. Coach Miles is explaining how he’ll take the team to FUNZone if they win all ten games in the season.

Coach Miles is standing in front of a classroom white board with "10 - 0 -> FUNZone" written on it. Two players in the front row are incredulous.

A Basketball Story – Interior 6, Left Side

November 26, 2021November 19, 2021Leave a comment

The next interior has two images, one on either side. Here’s the first one. Someone taking the team picture. This same picture is also used on the cover.

An illustration of someone taking a team photo using a cell phone. Only the picture-taker's hands and phone are visible, with the team visible on the screen. The actual team is out of focus in the distance.

A Basketball Story – Interior 5

November 25, 2021November 19, 2021Leave a comment

A wide view of the team’s first game for the picture book project I just finished. The text for this page fits in the white space over the bleachers on the left side. This image gives you a good view of the logo I designed for the Jackrabbits. This image took longer than you’d think because, even though the people are tiny figures there are 28 of them and most of them had to be drawn and colored consistently with the depictions of those same characters on other pages. Uniforms do save time on coloring, though.

A wide view of a children's basketball game in a school gymnasium. A few spectators and the players on the bench cheer from the bleachers while players from both teams hustle on the court.

A Basketball Story – Interior 4

November 24, 2021November 19, 2021Leave a comment

And another interior for Entrepreneur Media, Inc.’s picture book. This two-page spread only has a little bit of text, so there’s room for it in the white space over the bleachers. Coach miles is taking his new team through drills.

Four kids are practicing dribbling basketballs under their coach's supervision.

A Basketball Story – Interior 3

November 23, 2021November 19, 2021Leave a comment

Here’s the next interior for Entrepreneur Media, Inc.’s picture book. Another two-page spread, with text to be overlaid on the blank spot to the upper left. The children are eagerly gathering around Coach Miles.