I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of amazing experiences come to pass in my life as a result of my career in illustration. One that I suppose I wasn’t expecting until much later was a book about me. However, I was pleasantly surprised last year when Abdo Publishing Company, an educational publisher, added me to their ongoing Children’s Illustrator series which includes the likes of Chris Van Allsburg, Garth Williams and Brian Selznick. Read more
I am happy to tell you that all sketches for the interior art for Hero for WondLa are complete and I am now inking them like a madman. The art production will take me into the end of January after which the book will be ready to send off to the printer…and just in time for its May release. Read more
The generous Geoff Boucher has interviewed yours truly about the upcoming sequel to The Search for WondLa at the LA Times’ Hero Complex. The article also has several sketches and studies for the final cover. Take a looky! Read more
A couple of weeks ago I cleaned out a storage closet here in the studio used primarily for holding shipping supplies. Back in the farthest corner, I came across a box full of old framed art prints by Michael Parkes and Brian Froud that had once adorned our apartment (from way back when Ang and I were living in Florida). Amongst these old prints, I found some of my early spec work that I had created in hopes of bridging my illustration portfolio from role-playing games to children’s books. Read more
Let me start off by saying the obvious: I am a Star Wars nut. I was seven years-old when I was first whisked off to a galaxy far, far away. I’ve collected the toys, the ephemera, met the actors…heck, I’ve even reported on Star Wars. Like many of us, George Lucas’ vision had a tremendous impact on my imagination as I am sure Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon had on his. Read more
(In case you missed it, here’s a quick link to Part 1)
Back in August of 2003, as I began work for the fourth Spiderwick book, I started thinking about re-illustrating a classic text after the Spiderwick series was complete. I spoke with my editor at the time, Kevin, and he thought it a good idea – especially given how well my rendition of The Spider & The Fly was received. Read more
I suppose this entry title may seem premature. It should probably read “Realizing Rovender Kitt”. After all, it is a little early to reminisce about a character which you’ve likely only met this past year in The Search for WondLa; but Rovender – the roving wanderer – has been traveling through my imagination for over a decade. For me, he has been a driving force behind these stories, reappearing in my life on-and-off since I first sketched him back in 1996. Read more
We’ve returned to our home in Amherst this week and I am happy to be back in New England. I’ve handed in the first draft of the second WondLa book and will be starting the jacket art very soon. Yay! Read more
