Twice Upon A Marigold

As I was doing Once Upon A Marigold

I was also designing and cutting the other two.

Twice Upon A Marigold is just as fun as

the first with a lot charm and great detail.

The first sketch I had doesn't work for obvious reasons.

But I went back and made the title more prominent.

 It was getting closer. 

I just needed to switch some elements around

We were happy with this sketch so I started to cut it.

I always tweak little things here and there

while i'm cutting so I can get the composition I want.

I like it but some of the colors needed to be changed

and a few letters were hard to read.

So I fixed those. Here a few details:

I like how the water looks going to the back of the book.

It's a nice little touch that I wanted on all three covers. 

I really like how the colors on this one turned out

and I think it goes really well with the first book as well.

The book is available here and at your local bookseller.

You can glimpse an image of the third Marigold

cover on the back of Twice. That book comes April 16th.

I'll tell you about it then. Thanks again to 

Elizabeth Tardiff for the amazing art direction!

Once Upon A Marigold

Last year I got to work on the covers for

reissues of the Marigold series by Jean Ferris.

They are wonderful fairy tale/ fantasy books for

pre-teens with lots of great characters and details.

For the cover, they wanted those details to
interact with the title of the book. I drew elements as

I read the book. Here was the sketch I  

came up with as I read the book.

They liked the dogs but wanted me to show more castle. 

I went back to the drawing board and refined it.

I tightened up a few elements and went to finish.

Here are a few details: 

 

And here it is in book form. I love it!

The book is available here and at you local book seller. 

I'm really happy with how it came out. 

Especially with how it works alongside

the other two. But i'll show you those later.

Thanks to Elizabeth Tardiff for the absolutely 

wonderful art direction!

Edutopia - How To Thank A Teacher

I had the great opportunity to create a 

 third guide for Edutopia this year.

This one is about a great subject:

How To Thank ATeacher!

Just in time for the holidays!

As it was with the other guides, I did the 

border, cover, and spots on the inside. 

I even cut that Edutopia logo up on top! 

This guide has tons of useful information about 

gift giving and ways of showing appreciation for

the remarkable people that are teachers.

I wasn't sure about my idea of the apple peel 

looking like it said "thank you" but I think it 

turned out pretty nice. Here are a few other spots.

 There were even a couple that didn't make the cut.

No pun intended. 

An appreciation sticker and the ugliest sweater ever!

These guides have been really fun to illustrate.

It's everything I love to draw and an amazing client.

You can get the whole guide here at their site where

you can get the other two guides I did as well. 

I feel like me and Edutopia are a match made in heaven.  

Giant Robot Post It Show 8

I have the awesome honor of being in 

Giant Robot's Eighth Post It Show!

The show starts Saturday December 8th at 6 PM.

There are soo many amazing artist, so get there early.

More details here.

April Fools Day!!

Here is a desktop wallpaper for the first day of April.

iPhone/iPodTouch

iPad

This wallpaper will self destruct if used on any other day.

The Washington Post - Local Living

I had the awesome privilege of illustrating

the cover of the Washington Post's Local Living.

It is their Back To School edition. I was asked to create

the words "back to school" with school supplies.

I also illustrated a stack of books for the table of contents...

And the section headers:

I thought it was going to be a big challenge to try and integrate

all of the back to school supplies but once I made a list of

everything I could draw, it was smooth sailing.

Thanks to Tippi Thole for the art direction

and amazing suggestions!

Show and Sale

I'm part of a great show that opens up tonight.

It is called Feeling Better Already and is

at Double Punch in San Francisco.

Here is the details and awesome list of artists.

I made three pieces for it.

I'll post two and you can see the third in person.

ZZwap!

Pow!

Can you guess what the third is?

Also, I have many original pieces on sale

in my shop here. For one week only.

Have a good weekend everybody!

Wednesday Wallpaper - Super Cool Beginnings

I took a sick day last week but that doesn't

mean that I wasn't cutting it up. I've been

reading a whale-load of comics. I'm talking about

relationship crushing amounts of comics. I've also been

drawing like crazy for the second Super Cool Spy Club.

For this weeks wallpaper, we find out how Pete became

a spy. Or do we?

iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpaper

This wallpaper marks three firsts in the wallpapers.

The first comic, the first photo, and the first pencil lines.

I don't really know why I told you that, but I think it's cool.

There are also a couple more strips

and sketches on Flickr.

I gotta tell you, it feels good to be back.

Wallpaper Wednesday - Colors and Spaces

I wanted things more simple this week.

Making things simple also

made it easy to make more.

There is also a new device to make

wallpapers for this week: the iPad

iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpaper
iPad Wallpaper
Desktop Wallpaper
iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpaper
Desktop Wallpaper
iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpaper
I didn't make an iPad version for this last

one but if some one wants it just let me know.

Also if you have one of these iPads, I would

love to see how these wallpapers look on there.

Have a good week!

Wallpaper Wednesday - Go Green

The story behind this wallpaper is that I cut out

some shamrocks. Get this... then I put faces on them. =)

This one has the same story but shorter.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!!

Wednesday Wallpaper - Do Good

This one took a while to make but I think it's my favorite so far.

There is a lot going on, but hopefully it will be on your desktop

long enough to find new things every time you go to the computer.

So most weeks I show a sketch or an idea but today I'll show you my

inspiration. When I saw this pattern by internet friend Andy J. Miller

I was struck but it, and immediately put it as my own wallpaper.

It's been on my computer for almost three weeks and I still

like looking at it and finding new things. So that is what I

wanted to tray and accomplish as well. A wallpaper that is

fun and that you can explore, which is kind of a foreign concept

in regards to desktop wallpaper. We'll see if it works for you.

For more of Andy's work check it out here. So amazing.

Bonus: Behind The Scenes

This is the back of the piece. I thought it was pretty in its own way.

Also kind of crazy. Like a really uncomfortable quilt.