Here’s the second of two illustrations for the first page of a coloring book about recycling commissioned by Positive Promotions for Earth Day. The box in this acts as a frame around a word puzzle to be added in production.
Tag: boy
Recycling Book – Cover Art
I recently completed an educational coloring book project for Positive Promotions to be printed in time for Earth Day 2020. This was an unusual project in two ways.
First, it was not a new work, but a reillustration of an existing book originally illustrated 25 years ago. The previous illustrations were perfectly nice, but in a somewhat dated style. They wanted to update it. So, in many scenes, I was more-or-less copying a previous illustrator’s work, but in a modern style. A few elements were even just tracework, merely updating the line style to match my illustrations. There are no copyright or plagiarism issues because the publisher owned full rights to the previous work and instructed me to copy it. However, I have excluded the most direct copies from what I’m sharing here because I feel weird claiming that as my work. The samples I’ll share here for this project will only be the work that’s completely original or significantly different from the source material.
The second unusual part of this project was that it was a rush job. The project was one color cover image and 15 pages of black and white illustrations, usually several illustrations per page, all work to be done in two weeks, start to finish. So, this job was completed at top speed, working weekends and way more hours per day than I want to admit. Then, on top of that, there was a miscommunication on the ages of the characters that caused me to have to go back and redraw parts of most of the sketches before I could move on to the finals. Whew! This was a stressful project. But I got it done!
Anyhow, here’s the first image. This was for the cover and is the only color illustration in the project.
One Empty Girl Cover
Here’s a cover I created for Alexandra Townsend for her upcoming middle grade novel.
(The title and byline here are just a mock-up and are a little sloppy. The final text layout will differ.)
Petting Zoo – Image 3
One last image for the Petting Zoo commission for Learning A-Z.
Petting Zoo – Image 2
A second image for the Petting Zoo commission for Learning A-Z.
Moving Day – Image 2
This commission only had two images. So, here’s the second of the Moving Day set for Learning A-Z. The boy is packing up his room. Looks like he’s a Yankees fan.
Moving Day – Image 1
Another commission for Learning A-Z. This one is a family packing up their living room and kitchen, getting ready to move.
One problem with this scene was that they wanted both rooms to show, but in a portrait-oriented image. So, I decided to make this house a front-to-back split with a short stairway between the two levels. That let me put the two rooms one in front of the other, but with the kitchen a half-story higher so as to increase the height of the image and keep the living room from blocking it.
It’s done entirely in one-point perspective. Everything except the people and a few curves was drawn with virtual rulers.
It’s probably a small mid-eighties tract home, judging by the layout. One that’s been updated with wood floors and new appliances. But the kitchen is still too small and it doesn’t have a dishwasher. I’d move too, if I were them.
Veterinarian’s Office – Image 3
One more piece for Learning A-Z. A different view of the waiting room in a veterinarian’s office.
Veterinarian’s Office – Image 1
Here’s a recent piece for Learning A-Z. The waiting room in a veterinarian’s office. The unusual clientele is because this is for the educational market. The words for the animals (except for the cat) all have unusual plural forms. Wolf/wolves, sheep/sheep, goose/geese, mouse/mice.
Neighborhood Park – Image 1
Here’s a piece I finished recently for Learning A-Z. Children playing in a neighborhood park.
