Something a little different...

These are backgrounds for a upcoming catalog/planner for a company that does pre-school curriculum. A little different than my normal fare but still a lot of fun. It's kind of nice working on non-representational images.

Place-mats

These images were for a company that produces place-mats for the restaurant industry. It wasn't a high paying or high profile gig, but it was a heck of a lot of fun for a couple of reasons.

First off, all I was given was a title for each mat and a few guidelines the rest was up to me, total creative freedom!

Secondly, I was responsible for all of the content, the art, the games, the clues... all of it! I've always wanted to create dot-to-dots, mazes and coloring pages. I'd done a few for my kids but nothing like these. It was a total blast from start to finish!

I should add, each mat has a black and white coloring page on the reverse side. You can see those here.

I hope you enjoy!

Keep on Truckin!

Here's a few concepts I did for a t-shirt for a 5k walk/run. It was a fundraiser for LAMP for Haiti. They provide medical care for the people of Haiti and the race was to help fund their mobile out reach clinic/truck, hence the name "Truckin' for Haiti". They ended up picking a very different image. One that was a more literal take on Crumb's "Keep on Truckin" character. These however were my favorites. You can check out the image they chose on their website. While you are at it donate a few dollars. Every little bit helps and it's a great cause!

Keep on Truckin!

Merry Christmas!

QPB cover Concept to Final

That's Quality Paperback Books to you. I could use a little sun as the snow settles in on Traverse City, so here's a cover I did for them this summer for a catalog of "great summer reads".

From concept to final excluding a few other ideas I tossed as them.

Happy Halloween... a bit late

Last year for Halloween my son and I made this great robot costume. I stumbled across this picture a day ago and decided to give it some zip.

Fall Leaves

Just for fun... I'm tired of raking leaves, but they are so amazing to look at.

Better late than never?

Yes, I am a terrible blogger. I admit it, but it was summer time. When you live in a northern climate summer is not something to take lightly or let slip by. We had an amazing summer full of good company and good weather. Now back to work...

Here are a few dinosaurs and birds for a preschool curriculum company I do work for on a regular basis. More to come.

No no dear readers... or reader as the case may be, I'm not going to let April go by without an update. This is the last in the 5x7 series. I'm also including a new tutorial. This time I put together a quickie website to take you through the steps.

I use matte medium a lot. Why? Well for one it adds a layer of protection to your painting. This is particularly useful if you use cut paper like I do.

Also, if you get to the point where you really like a painting a quick coat will protect what's underneath. If you let is set up over night it's even better. You can apply the next coat of paint and if you don't like it you can immediately scrub it off with a damp clothe. This technique great for creating subtle layers of color.

More 5"x7"s

Phew... I almost went all of March without a post. That is something I vowed not to do this year. Here are the latest for the 5"x7" show at the Dennos Museum. These were fun to do. To get the look I wanted I used a lot of techniques I've not used in a long time. I'll post a quick tutorial on some of those techniques in the near future.