I recently completed a short series for Menno Media for their Shine curriculum. This series illustrates 9 scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. This first one shows Jesus and Mary in attendance at a wedding feast. I believe this is the one at Cana where he turns water to wine.
On page 10 there are two panels showing how people will pray in the future, after they learn what Jesus has to teach. This first panel shows a Samaritan family praying around the table before a meal.
Here’s a personal piece I just finished. I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons with my family and I think it’s sad how orcs are depicted as just a bunch of mindlessly aggressive monsters. They have families, right? They must. So, here’s a candid portrait of an orc dad and his offspring.
Here’s the 11th illustration for the book project I just finished for Learning A-Z. Page 13 of The Neighborhood’s Night by Juliana Catherine.
This is the last one set in the school gymnasium. Amaya is crying after learning Juana’s news. Their house didn’t make it.
Here’s the 4th illustration for the book project I just finished for Learning A-Z. Page 6 of The Neighborhood’s Night by Juliana Catherine.
So, this is actually the full-wrap version of cover image, including a half inch bleed all around it. But it’s also going to be used on page 6 as a spot illustration. For that they’ll crop off about a quarter of the image from the left side and some from the top, bottom and right as necessary to fit the spot.
Here’s the third illustration for the book project I just finished for Learning A-Z. Page 5 of The Neighborhood’s Night by Juliana Catherine.
In this one, it’s a bedroom at night, but red and blue emergency lights from the window and a white light from the hall are lighting it up. The girl, Leena, is running across the room with her shoes and emergency bag while her mom and little brother wait for her at the door. They’re about to leave the house because they’ve been ordered to evacuate.
Here’s the second illustration for the book project I just finished for Learning A-Z. Page 4 of The Neighborhood’s Night by Juliana Catherine. This scene is in a cloud to show that it’s a flashback to the previous day when they family had all packed their emergency supplies in preparation to evacuate if the fires got too near. You can see a collection of emergency supplies laid out on the floor ready to be packed into duffle bags, one per person. Mama is putting a tag on little Amir’s ankle so that he can be reunited with the family if he gets separated.
I just finished illustrating a graded reader from Learning A-Z. The Neighborhood’s Night by Juliana Catherine. It’s about a family who has to evacuate their home due to forest fires near their neighborhood. Here’s a mock-up of the cover. It was work-for-hire, so it’s copyright Learning A-Z.
I sure got practice drawing vehicles on this one and the changing perspective along the curve was challenging, but the most important part of this illustration was the lighting. I wanted it bright enough to show what was going on and all the people and such, but still look like it’s actually nighttime. An argument could be made that maybe it should have been more smoky, but the haze would have obscured more of the background details, so I went light on the smoke. This image took longer than all the rest of the images in the book.
The full cover image actually wraps around the back. I’ll share that later.
I’m going to dole out the interior illustrations over the next few days here, so keep an eye out if that interests you.
Here’s an image for page 7 of a safety-themed coloring book commissioned by Positive Promotions. This shows a boy puling the curtains away from a space heater his mom’s turning on.
So, here’s the new version of the Kissing Story page I posted before. If you remember, there was some concern that the public display of affection was too much for the children’s market in the original version. So, here is a new version with the parental kissing off-panel.
Karen B. Jones - Illustrator 