I just completed a new hidden picture puzzle for Jennifer Newbold, a client who plans to send it out with her Christmas cards this year. All the hidden items are things that have meaning for her family this year. I didn’t get an explanation for all of them, but for one example, the family took a special trip to Canada this summer. So, she wanted to hide a Canadian flag.
As always, I am open for commissions.
I recently completed a project for Utah-based Fish for Garbage, a nonprofit organization that mobilizes communities through waterway cleanups and watershed education. They commissioned me to create a series of illustrations for a children’s activity book.
This image introduces two characters that will appear in the next illustration. The characters ae both wearing Fish for Garbage hats, work gloves, and mesh bags for collecting garbage. The dog was an afterthought requested by the client to make the image wider to better fit the layout. The client told me that some participants have trained their dogs to find and fetch trash to help with collection during cleanup events.
A veterinarian. Very similar to the doctor/nurse from last time but holding a dog so we know he’s an animal doctor.
A child riding a bike with a chihuahua in the basket.
The last interior illustration in this project is a happy ending illustration. We’ve got the sun setting over a fictionalized version of the author’s house. She and her husband are working in the yard. She’s waving at Rocky and Sylvia up in a tree overlooking everything. Everything is as it should be. A happy ending.
The second illustration for chapter 7. Supposedly this also really happened.
This is an illustration of a fight involving a Doberman and a stray cat which, among other things, clung to the dog’s head before attacking him. This is the only illustration in the book that doesn’t directly involve Rocky the squirrel.
Chapter 7 has two illustrations. This one is when an owl scoops up one of the family dogs. Rocky runs out to make a loud commotion, which startles the owl into dropping the dog. The author says it’s a true story.
She paid for a half page illustration for this one. When designing the layout, I realized that the image would benefit from as much height as possible. I thought, well, it’s supposed to be a half page, but we didn’t specify which half. Usually half pages are landscape (horizontal) format top or bottom half pages. But a left or right half page would meet the requirements also. I was proud of how it turned out.
And here’s a color version of #24 – Dig. I think the dirt thrown back is still fading into the larger pile a bit too much.
Buddy always seemed like a dog’s name to me. So, here’s a boy playing with his Buddy.
Fast line drawing using fat lines this time.
I also considered drawing a pirate digging up buried treasure, but I decided on this puppy instead. I’m a little concerned that the dirt he’s throwing back fades into the dirt in the pile too much. What do you think?
Karen B. Jones - Illustrator 