Here’s an illustration of the title character for the Netflix series Sweet Tooth.
Sweet Tooth
Tag: trees
Bass Reeves
Here’s an illustration of Deputy US Marshal Bass Reeves riding out of Fort Smith, Arkansas with a warrant in hand. Bass Reeves was the first black Deputy US Marshal west of the Mississippi. He is thought to be the real-life inspiration for The Lone Ranger. He did not have an Indian sidekick named Tonto (which is offensive on a couple of levels) but he did have friends among the indigenous tribes living in the Oklahoma and Indian Territories. The story is that he fled to Oklahoma Territory after he learned about his emancipation from slavery after the Civil War. There he learned several native languages and how to shoot and track. Those skills and contacts, along with his own ingenuity, later helped him track down the outlaws he was charged with capturing as a Deputy US Marshal. Upon his retirement, he had over 3,000 arrests of felons on his record and had killed 14 outlaws, an impressive tally which inspired many stories.
I used some artistic license to give him a white horse, like The Lone Ranger, and the traditional white hat of the western hero. The Fort Smith courthouse is drawn how it looked sometime in the 1870s. I used several reference photos for both the courthouse and Bass Reeves himself.
The font I used on the bottom is named Nashville and designed by Disturbed Type. I like the eroded look to it. I hand drew the letters for his name using the font Tagwood by Intellecta Design as a guide.
The Neighborhood’s Night – Page 6
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.
Project Complete! The Neighborhood’s Night
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.
Recycling Book – Page 9
Here’s an image that appears on page 9 of a coloring book about recycling commissioned by Positive Promotions for Earth Day. Since this whole project was a rush job, I don’t think I got the characters quite as consistent as I usually do. I think the boy on the left side’s head needs to be larger in comparison to his body. Oh, well. I’ll try to do better in the future. 🙂
Recycling Book – Page 1, Image 1
Here’s the first of two illustrations for the first page of a coloring book about recycling commissioned by Positive Promotions for Earth Day. Words will be added to the speech bubbles in production.
My Treehouse – Page 10
Here’s page 10 from My Treehouse, a short graded reader I recently illustrated for Learning A-Z. This is the last page for this book. 
My Treehouse – Page 9
Here’s page 9 from My Treehouse, a short graded reader I recently illustrated for Learning A-Z. The girl really has a remarkable view from the deck of her treehouse. If you look close, you’ll see a road with two bridges. One over a river and another over railway tracks. There’s traffic on the road. The distant fields have trees along the fencelines and there are cows in a field closer in.
My Treehouse – Page 8
Here’s page 8 from My Treehouse, a short graded reader I recently illustrated for Learning A-Z. As you can see, it’s really not so much a treehouse as an elevated playhouse build around some trees. But the girl seems to like it.
My Treehouse – Cover Spread
Well, I’ve been super busy lately. When that happens, nothing gets posted on the website at all. But today I’ve got a bit of a breather while I wait on feedback from a client, so I’m setting up some posts.
I illustrated a short graded reader for Learning A-Z titled My Treehouse. Here’s the spread for the wrapped cover on that one. The first page is the same image, but a cropped version showing just the right-hand side of this scene.
Karen B. Jones - Illustrator 