Number 49 of 150

March 30, 2023March 20, 2023Leave a comment

A boy with a puffer vest and shaggy hair.

A cartoon of an Indigenous American boy standing with his arms crossed over his chest. He has a big smile and has shaggy hair. He's wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and a blue puffer vest over a white long-sleeved shirt.

Number 48 of 150

March 28, 2023March 20, 2023Leave a comment

Moving on to age 7-9. A girl with a starry blue dress.

A cartoon of an Indigenous American girl standing with her hands behind her back. She is aged 7-9 with long black hair worn loose. She has a small smile that reaches her eyes. She's wearing a dark blue dress with white stars, earrings, and silver sandals.

Number 47 of 150

March 26, 2023March 20, 2023Leave a comment

Here’s a little boy with glasses and a missing tooth. If I did it right, he should look to be somewhere in the 4-6 age range.

A cartoon illustration of an Indigenous American boy aged 4-6. He is wearing glasses and is missing a bottom tooth. He is wearing black shorts, a yellow t-shirt with a black and red stripe over a white long-sleeved undershirt, and white sneakers. He is standing with both hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

Number 46 of 150

March 24, 2023March 6, 2023Leave a comment

Back to this Learning A-Z project. As a reminder, this is a set of 150 diverse characters of various ages and body types, isolated on white. Here we’re starting back on batch 4. (There are 10 batches, total.) This batch are all Indigenous Americans.

This little girl is wearing a sweater with a traditional pattern.

A Native American girl stands with one hand propped on her hip. Her long hair is in two braids and she's wearing a sweater with a traditional pattern. She's also wearing black leggings and pink sneakers.

Rocky The Human Squirrel

February 25, 2023March 2, 2023Leave a comment

My most recent project has been illustrating a book for Jean Ball-Maurer titled Rocky The Human Squirrel. It’s a short, illustrated chapter book. I did the color cover (front and back) and 10 black and white interior illustrations.

She just emailed me that that the paperback is up on Amazon now. She’s so excited to see her first book out in print! Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BW385B6V

The ebook will be coming in a few days. I’ll post about that when it’s up and I’ll share a look at the illustrations pretty soon also. In the meantime, here’s the cover:

The front cover of a book with the title, "ROCKY The Human Squirrel" and bylines for "Jean Ball-Maurer" and "Illustrated by Karen B. Jones". The word "ROCKY" in the title is in all-caps and uses an acorn for the "O". The cover artwork shows a cartoon squirrel standing on a branch holding a tree bark sign reading "FREE TO BE ME". Behind the squirrel and branch are tree leaves on the sides and top and blue sky behind everything. There is a copyright notice across the top that reads, "Copyright © 2023 Jean Maurer. All rights reserved."

Number 45 of 150

February 20, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

Last of the batch. Doesn’t he look snazzy in his bow tie and suspenders?

An old man stands with arms wide, gesturing while speaking. He has a mustache and his hair is bald on top. He's wearing a blue and white striped button-up shirt, a red bow tie, suspenders, tan trousers, and brown boots.

Number 44 of 150

February 18, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

I think I found the old ladies the most delightful to draw.

I originally used a brown, yellow, and black combination which I thought was very stylish. But the client wanted purple, yellow, and black instead. So, that’s what we went with.

An elderly Middle Eastern woman is walking towards the viewer with one hand raised as if waving. She's smiling and looks like she's moving carefully. She has a yellow hijab, white, yellow, and light purple horizontally striped shirt, light purple cardigan, loose black pants, and yellow slide-on sneakers.

Number 43 of 150

February 16, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

A man in a thinking pose, larger body type.

A Middle Eastern man standing with one hand raised as if gesturing and the other touching his chin as if thinking. He's wearing jeans, sneakers, and a button-up shirt. He has a larger body type with a prominent belly.

Number 42 of 150

February 14, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

Moving onto the adults. A lady in a floral skirt and matching hijab.

A Middle Eastern Muslim woman wearing a long floral skirt, leggings, white blouse, flats, and a hijab. She's standing with her right hand on her waist looking to her left.

Number 41 of 150

February 12, 2023February 2, 2023Leave a comment

One last child for this batch. Traditionally female clothes (skirt and leggings) in gender-neutral colors (black and turquois) worn by a character drawn to read a little more masculine than feminine. If I got it right, it should be unclear what their gender identity is exactly. Again, inclusivity and diversity was an important part of this project.

I really like how the skirt turned out, in particular.