Wicked Banjo Pig

Here's another banjo pig for the dueling banjo pig site put together by a couple of friends of mine - Stacy Curtis and Guy Francis. Stacy won't eat bacon but will eat sausage - Guy won't eat any sausage but will partake of bacon - at least they have their principles. Guy says although he's been oraly fixated on some pork products he's never participated in a greased pig race - he says, "rubbing grease on a pig might be enjoyable but how do you think it makes the pig feel?...probably pretty good but that's not the point."

Visit their site and check out all the pigs - http://banjopigs.blogspot.com/

Do you have to create?

I ask this question because I wonder how many of us feel the burning desire to be creative and to take an idea from beginning to end? For me the creator in me may go dormant from time to time but he, she, it, whatever will always wake, tap me on the shoulder and say, "it's time". Sometimes it happens when I'm sleeping - other times when I'm day dreaming or when I see art that really does it for me.
This piece came to me while I was doodling the other day and even though I have paying projects that I need to be working on I really feel that it's important not to let the burning desire to create be squelched by routine.
I carry my sketchbook with me where ever I go because I hate being caught in some boring situation twiddling my thumbs - which I'm not very good at anyway but my A.D.D. is so painful that I can't stand not being able to entertain myself and inevitably I'll think of something that I need to put down on paper and my thoughts begin to run together like this sentence if I don't have something to record each one and so the birth of this piece came from one of those potentially boring situations.
I wanted to show part of my process here in how I refine my sketch before I begin the rendering. I'm going to be teaching my picture book class next week and part of the reason for this post is to give my students a reference for process.
Unlike using traditional paint I can zoom into the detail areas and work on shape much easier. Another technique artists use is to step back from their paintings so they can focus on the entire composition to check for design, contrast, emphasis, etc. With digital software you simply zoom out and you can do this so quickly that you'll probably do it more often than if you actually had to get up out of the chair over and over again.
I feel so blessed to be able to create fun images for a living. I only hope that enough people enjoy them enough so I can continue to avoid having a real job. :)

The Three Bully Goats

I just finished my 5th book with Albert Whitman - "The Three Bully Goats". It's a fractured fairy tale based on the three billy goats gruff story. This is my first all digital picture book and wow was it fun. I learned a lot about photoshop while I was working on these images.

Albert Whitman asked me to write a little about my experience for their blog - here's the link if you want to check it out: Albert Whitman

Picturebook Class

I'm happy to announce that I will be teaching the picture book class at UVU here in Utah this fall semester. We will discuss and explore everything that goes into illustrating children's picture books. So while some will be wasting time with business, economics, mathematics, english, and science we'll be saving the world one picture book at a time!