The Legend of Zelda

Hey everybody!

I wrote a little blog entry for Dave Roman's Astronaut Academy blog, Love Letters and Heart Containers. It's just a little bit about why I like the game. I hardly ever play video games, and I'm terrible at games that require speed and reflexes, but I sure do love me some original L of Z.

A couple more things. First, I'm doing something I haven't really done before: I'm opening up for commissions. What I'm offering is ink-and-watercolor commissions, approximately 6X9 inches, featuring my interpretation of the character of your choice (eg. Aquaman, Alice, Sherlock Holmes, The Doctor, Conan the Barbarian) Similar to the picture of Link, above, or my Justice League pictures. The cost is $75 for one character, $120 for two characters The cost is $45 for 1 or 2 characters of your choice! (fictional characters only please). I'm also open to more specific requests (eg. the crew of Serenity) but you'll have to email me with those.

Most of the pictures will probably appear here on the blog!

So if if this is something you're interested you can click here for ordering information.

The second thing is that I found out that Zita the Spacegirl has landed on two more state award lists! The Children's Literature Association of Utah's Beehive Award, And the Maryland's Black Eyed Susan award. So thanks, Maryland and Utah!

Knee Deep in Picture Books

The picture book is a curious beast.

I’ve been working hard these past weeks on the illustrations for Julia’s House. They are big ink-and-watercolor pictures and making them gives me that “real artist” feeling that you only get from splashing around with pigments. (I can do some nice-looking work with my Cintiq, but that sense of danger is lost when you have an “undo” button).

Picture books are a unique and intimate blend of words and pictures. (So are graphic novels, but they are a different blend). I thought I had Julia’s House written. But as I translate my scribbly, sometimes unintelligible sketches into finished artwork I’m surprised by how much more of the story is being told.

Here, then, are links to two short videos featuring masters of the craft talking about what they do:

First, the most excellent Helen Oxenbury and what the illustrator lends to the text. Guys, she has a fireplace in her studio!

Second, this cool guy Oliver Jeffers, and a video that features his cool studio, his cool hair and cool motorcycle and cool way of hunting sandwiches. Sigh...

Finally here are some pictures and an odd mini robot comic. I’ve started the occasional creative warm up exercise of just starting tiny comics in my notebook without knowing what they are going to be. You draw a box and fill it with a picture. Then you draw another box...

desktop

A doodle of Julia from Julia’s House

inspiration outside my window.

True Dad Stories 7

This is another comic straight out of my little Moleskine notebook.

I took a break to draw this this morning because I've been working on the same watercolor illustration for three days now and it just refuses to come together. It's a page from Julia's House and my failed attempts are starting to eat into my stock of watercolor paper. So Frustrating! I had hoped to draw and paint these pages all in order, but I think I'm going to have to move past this page and come back to it later.

Parents

This was my warm up sketch for the day. Astute observers might have guessed that it is my mom’s birthday! Hooray for astute observers! Hooray for my mom!

My parents are definitely the biggest reason I’ve ended up being able to do creative work full time. Whenever I wanted to make some invention, or art project or costume they were always happy to make time, help me dig around for supplies or help out with the parts of the project I wasn’t able to do. They took my crazy ideas seriously. And oh the things my mom was willing to sew...!

I dressed up as an eyeball one Halloween. A plucked-out eyeball. Like with nerve endings and everything. This is the kind of costume my mom would help sew. No questions asked. (I could do a whole post about the eyeball costume highlighting my dad’s genius at helping design this kind of thing).

I wore a home-made leather He-Man baldric that my mom sewed for a couple YEARS, even after a gym coach asked my parents if it was a pacemaker under my shirt. My parents just said “oh, he just wears a He-Man suit under his clothes.”

So, yeah. Hooray for cool moms.

Comics, Robots, Love...

I’ve had my head down at the drawing board lately as my crazy life swirls around me. I feel like I’m getting back to a sense of focus after my travels. And it’s good! The juices are flowing. There are flurries outside my window and I find myself just ready for spring.

I’ve got a hankering to do some serious journal comics, Superhero redesigns, True Dad Stories and Robot Comics, but it’s been hard to find the time! Here, though, are a couple bits from my Tumblr. The first is a totally improvised little comic that I drew with no forethought. I just put pen to paper and started scribbling:

And here’s what the Little Robot is up to: