I just love drawing fat fingers and little kids’ toes. Nothing fierce about those at all.
Click to see it larger. Watercolor and ink with brush.
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Archive for the 'Artwork' Category
Click to see larger.
Watercolor and ink with brush.
Any dentist that uses needles, drills, picks, cold water, abrasives, scissors, floss, anything with high pitch sounds or tastes bad is still in the dark ages as far as I’m concerned.
Brushed ink lines and watercolor wash.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love drawing monsters. They can be ugly, cute, scary, cuddley… I’m guilty of the same. Here’s a fun ink wash study of a cuddley cute one, but that’s subjective.
Just in case you have a hard time focusing on those huge puzzles with a gazillion teeny pieces, here are a few that will just put your mind at ease. Then when you complete them, they can be used as little futons to take a nap upon. They’re big (20×30 inches), they’re made of thick, soft, but durable, foam, and you’ll learn the life cycles of various creatures while having fun!
These aren’t the cartoony illustrations I’m used to drawing, but it’s fun to take on a different style once in a while. Again, logo and illustrations done by me, and Giant Life Cycle Puzzles furnished by Insect Lore.
The summer days are long, and there aren’t enough rocks for all your offspring to play under. What’s a bug mother to do, send them to the compost pile? Right, good luck getting them to return for supper from that wonder wasteland… There are safer alternatives, one that even conforms to strict ASTM F963 requirements!
Introducing the Critter Carnival! This amusement park is the ultimate playground for your young larvae! Watch them play and perform in the zany carnival bug-play arena with a slide, swing, maze, tightrope, ferris wheel & teeter totter. Even a large protective dome to keep those pesky humans from squashing your precious pupae. It’s your very own one-ring circus!
Logo design by yours truly, and product by Insect Lore.
I awoke Saturday morning with the dread of covering the table with newspaper and filling the house with the smell of vinegar. I was equally dreading setting up a factory of the same old dyed Easter eggs… I just wanted to do something different, so I decided to stir it up a little, so I gave the kiddies a choice… a little to my wife’s dread. Dye or Paint? I was beaming with pride when the voting was unanimous for paint! So off I went to find the kiddie paint brushes.
Our children aren’t the kindest to their paint brushes, and a few have had to be thrown away. I’m guessing that’s what had happened to ALL of thier brushes. My wife blamed it on the Parents Against Art Supplies (PAAS… Isn’t she clever?) So I had to calm them down a little as I ran to the craft store to buy a new stash and we painted away. We painted far fewer eggs than we would have dyed, which is just fine by me, and we had a great time. Here are the results done my me, my 10 year old son, 7 year old daughter, and 4 year old daugher, in that order:
No time for color this week, just a couple sketches.
Faith is overshadowed by superstition here. The basic idea of this one was from my wife. She may not be artistic, but she’s definitely creative.
It’s a good thing that Thanksgiving is between Halloween and Christmas (at least in the States it is). Acts as a buffer and gives the two extremes a bit of breathing room. The turkey always gets it in the end anyway despite his intentions to make peace.
Hmmm… this might work well for this years’ “Happy Holidays” card.
Although scolded every time, juggling the farm animals was a habit Cindy couldn’t kick until her early teens.
Update:
I played with this a little more to give it a warmer hand sketched look. I kinda dig the rougher feel of the cow below. What do you think? What style do you think children’s book publishers would welcome more? Click on the cow to see it up close.
Not terribly long ago I found a new love. She’s hard at first, but with warm hands and a firm touch, she loosens up and becomes more pliable. Her fleshy tones are a bit unnerving, just begging for a little primer before her true colors shout out.
Super Sculpey, I can’t keep my hands off you. You form so easily and even in the face of ice cold sculpting tools, you bend to my every whim. You never complain about me putting you in your place, and never, ever, do you revert to your original form.
Through the refiner’s fire you emerge as tough and determined as ever to please. Your final act in life is to become what you were destined to become: Art.
Super Sculpey, may you never become brittle in the face of adversity, and may your true form show forever.
Some daily doodles, and… what’s this? Color?! Wow, I am getting ambitious.
Ball point pen and watercolor.
Maybe it’s the recent road trip to California with young children that has tainted my thought process. Anyhoo, here’s my submission.
Below is another Illustration Friday submission that I just couldn’t finish on time. There’s not much worse than an uninvited visitor asking to stay for just a couple weeks until they get back on their feet. Illustration Friday’s theme: Visitor. I hope to add color soon.
I had one more idea that I just sketched up to get the idea across.
There are so many of these I would like to add color to, but my current schedule just won’t allow it. So you’ll have to endure some b&w goodness. Click on them if you want to see them close up.
I can’t believe I’ve let my blog go without an update for so long. I’ve been so busy on stuff that I just kinda got out of the groove. It’s time for an update.
All of the work I’ve done here is for my full-time gig at Insect Lore.
So I guess the best way to tell you what I’ve been up to is to show you.
Here’s a fun one. Six puzzles in one showing the life cycles of butterflies, ladybugs, ants, mealworms (darkling beetles), praying mantises, and silkworms. I did the puzzle artwork, logo designs and packaging design. Here’s what the six puzzles look like:
Then, there’s a mealworm/darkling beetle raising kit in the form of a country farm. Hey, anything to make these ugly bugs a little more endearing. It’s popular for 5th and 6th grade curriculums. I designed the logo and packaging, and the logo on the roof of the barn itself.
Here we have a Butterfly Garden, Insect Lore’s flagship item. They’ve been producing this one since 1969, just in several different forms from a box, down to this super simple pop-up habitat. I just redesigned the logo and packaging.
And, the fun-loving Checker Bugs. Just a cute twist on an old favorite. Jump your opponent and capture ‘em in the bug nets.
This isn’t a comprehensive list of what I’ve done (by far), but a sampling. I’m currently working on a whole slew of new products for 2008, and as soon as those are released, I’ll show those.
I feel so lucky to do what I love for a living, and Insect Lore is really a great company with wonderful people.