Number 142 of 150

October 16, 2023October 5, 2023Leave a comment

Here’s an illustration of a police officer in uniform. This is the last illustration for the set of images depicting people in recognizable professions. This was made as part of a larger commission for the children’s educational publisher Learning A-Z.

One detail when drawing police for the children’s market is that you want to be careful about depicting guns. This might sound like a silly concern to have, but children’s publishing tends to be very sensitive about showing weapons. Particularly for the younger age ranges. Normally you just wouldn’t draw guns at all, but police in America are pretty much always armed. It would be weird to show them with an empty belt. It just wouldn’t quite look like a cop. But you also don’t want to show the weapon too blatantly for your audience. To solve this problem, I like to draw police officers turned slightly away from the viewer so that their hip holster is on the far side, either partially or completely hidden from view. In this case, she’s facing the viewer almost full-on, but her hand position obscures those blocky items on her belt. Undoubtedly one of those is her firearm, but it’s not too obvious.

A Police Officer

Number 141 of 150

October 14, 2023October 5, 2023Leave a comment

This is a cartoon illustration of a commercial airline pilot in her traditional uniform. It was part of a larger commission for Learning A-Z. This set depicts diverse people with recognizable occupations.

I was pleased that this one called for a woman with short hair, since we hadn’t had many of those so far in the project. I also kept forgetting to add jewelry to people, since it was rarely mentioned in the specs. For this one I made a point to give her earrings and a wedding ring to make up for that previous oversight. I don’t remember why she didn’t get a pilot’s hat, but there was probably a reason.

Did you know that there is a reason the flight crew greets the passengers with one hand behind their backs like this? It’s nothing nefarious. They have a little counting device that they use to count the number of passengers that board the plane. They want to make sure it matches the number of tickets scanned. (Either stowaways or missing passengers would be bad.) They keep the device behind their back because they are trying to be discreet about it.

A Commercial Airline Pilot

Number 140 of 150

October 12, 2023October 5, 2023Leave a comment

This is a cartoon illustration of a park ranger giving a presentation about a red-tailed hawk. This image is part of a subset of illustrations within the larger project depicting people with recognizable professions. The project was commissioned by Learning A-Z to be used in a Build-A-Book application for children. As always, the image was created digitally in Adobe Photoshop using my cintiq tablet.

This one was fun to draw because I used a photo reference from my own personal photos. This hawk is based on the one that came by years ago and perched on my back fence for several hours. It was a very good model and let me get very close to get some nice shots. So, drawing this brought to mind a memory of a really special afternoon for me.

This final image was also way different than the original specs. Originally, this was supposed to be a woman park ranger with a park map she was pointing to. But that pose was fairly unworkable if we wanted to both see the content of the map and have the woman viewed from the front, looking at the viewer at eye-level. Which they did. Also, holding an unfolded paper map usually requires two hands, then a third would be needed to point. Additionally, the specs for this section were too heavy on women, and we already had a Middle Eastern woman with a prosthetic leg previously in the project. That was why it was decided to switch this one to a man.

It was my suggestion to change the pose to the park ranger doing a nature presentation with an animal, which the client liked. I suggested several animals, but I was really hoping they’d go for the hawk. Which they did.

Park Ranger with Red-Tailed Hawk

Number 139 of 150

October 10, 2023October 5, 2023Leave a comment

A cartoon illustration of a construction worker or contractor. He’s got the safety vest, helmet, ear protection, walkie talkie, probably even steel-toed boots. I think he’s the contractor, since he’s carrying the plans.

Number 138 of 150

October 8, 2023October 5, 2023Leave a comment

A chef. Probably from a more upscale restaurant, if they’re wearing the traditional chef’s uniform.

This is image 138 of 150 images commissioned for Learning A-Z. Each one is a cartoon drawing of a person isolated on white. Diversity was a key priority in the series and so the characters represent many different races, ethnic groups, genders, ages, and included individuals with visible disabilities. Previous batches were focused mostly on children, but this batch are all adults.

Number 137 of 150

October 6, 2023October 5, 2023Leave a comment

A veterinarian. Very similar to the doctor/nurse from last time but holding a dog so we know he’s an animal doctor.

Number 136 of 150

October 4, 2023October 5, 2023Leave a comment

Last batch. This one’s different from the previous batches. This one’s grouped into two categories. The first half depicts different recognizable professions while the second are all historical figures.

This one is a doctor or a nurse.

Squirrel Book Back Cover

March 22, 2023March 6, 2023Leave a comment

I have one last thing to share on this book project. The back cover is a drawing of squirrel tracks in the snow with a couple of acorns. The back cover text and barcode go in the blank areas.

A cartoon illustration of four sets of squirrel prints in the snow along with two acorns.

Squirrel Book 10 of 10

March 20, 2023March 6, 2023Leave a comment

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.

A cartoon illustration of two squirrels hugging on a tree branch in the foreground. One of the squirrels is winking at the viewer. The pair are overlooking a backyard, the back of a ranch-style house, a country road lined with telephone poles, some farm fields, and distant hills. Behind all that is a dramatic sunset. In the backyard, the tiny figures of two people are doing yardwork. One is waving at the squirrels.

Squirrel Book 9 of 10

March 18, 2023March 6, 2023Leave a comment

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.