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I had to speed through this one to make the Illustration Friday deadline, so you’ll notice it’s quites sketchy. It’s a play off another illustration I did quite some time ago: Momentum

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So, to kill two birds with one stone, I decided to use this week’s Illustration Friday theme to create a new website header. My header has been like Christmas lights that you forget to take down… and in a year, they become useful again ;) Time to change that.
A box of crayons symbolizes a cocoon, where there’s something beautiful inside just waiting to get out and show the world. It’s wonderful to watch a child with a blank piece of paper and a box of crayons and see what they come up with.

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I ran out of time for a completed illustration this week, so a sketch’ll haveta do ya!
Anyone who has kids who can speak know that it’s near impossible to keep ahead with finances.
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This cute little bear character is a man-eating machine, can’t you tell? Just try and rub his tummy and see where you end up.

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Insect Lore’s UK division is able to sell living walking sticks while it’s illegal to sell them in the US. The reason being that walking sticks are a common pest. Strange, since the US division can sell mealworms/darkling beetles with no restrictions. Ok, this is totally beside the point… the point being I was given the challenge of updating their antiquated logo and packaging.
Ack! Those walking stick characters look like poo with legs. The challenge here was to align it with our unified Insect Lore look, and make it friendly for 10 languages. This looks like a job for illustration!
First off, I created illustrations to show how the kit worked, independent of any copy:
Next came the logo.
Sometimes I get on a kick and create the whole logo with textures and all, and realize that I’ve been going the wrong way the whole time. Although this logo has some punch, other than reading “Living Twig”, it says nothing. Back to the drawing board.
Ok, this idea had some merit. It was approved by the powers-that-be, so I finished it up:
As you can see, I stayed pretty true to the hand drawn look of the lettering, but modified the leaf “shield” behind to help it sit on any colored background and look good.
The children on the front are from two separate photos, and we didn’t have a shot of a habitat with walking sticks crawling around in it, so that took a bit of photoshopping to get what we needed. I added the obligatory choking hazard label, odds and ends, a little fizz, and there you have it, a fresh updated look to a very cool live insect kit!
Not available in the US, but you can get it in the UK here.
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My 8 year old daughter has just created an organization for the benefit of the brain. No, not the lab rat… OUR brains. Won’t you join her and back up a cause that we all could benefit from? Heaven knows we all need more brain.
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Musical Birds came from a sketch I did a while ago that I felt had some merit to complete. It doubles as a Mother’s Day gift for my mom, being a bird collector. I know I’m a little late, but I think she’ll enjoy it nonetheless.
This is a newer technique for me, more of a loose and playful look, and I’m rather enjoying it. I make myself use a larger brush than will fit in smaller areas so that I don’t get so tied up with the details. It’s much quicker for me too!

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Here’s something I did a while ago that matches this week’s Illustration Friday theme perfectly:
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A great experience from an inspired mother. Everyone needs to be recognized.
Operation NICE: NICE Testimonial: Teaching Tweens to be Nice
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Perhaps instinct drew them together to bathe in this one particular puddle. Either that or I did.
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For this holiday season I dug up an old flash animation I created (in 2002) to wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you all for your support and friendship!
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My 7 year old daughter is following after me with the love of art. Not only does she draw quite well for her age, she has a sense of humor to beat all. What’s really fun is to see when she gets in this humorous mode, and she just pumps out the work like there’s no tomorrow. She doesn’t care that the final piece is her finest, she just has to get her ideas out. Many times the spontaneous scribble is much more enjoyable to see than a well-drafted masterpiece because it’s a glimpse into her twisted personality. See below:
I love the surprised look of Santa’s eyes just after being pelted by a snowball to the face.
Here you can see that Santa really biffed it in a powdery mess. Only his hat and legs flailing recklessly in the air are visible after falling out of his sleigh, apparently from several hundred feet in the sky.
Most likely after too many falls from his sled, Santa decides to take a safer route and buy a car. Poor Vixon.
And lastly, I let the kids have full reign of an old digital camera of mine. Not only does this appease their desire to use my brand new digital camera, but we unintentionally get some wonderful shots from their point of view. I particularly loved this one, taken by the same daughter spoken of above.
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