Bunny Music Class

Color version.

Iron Man papercraft

This is a Hallmark card I designed, and I also illustrated the Iron Man papercraft artwork too.  It retails for $3.97.

Cat Bat Rat color

Frog Dog Log color

Trying a new coloring style!

Granite City Blueberry Lager logo

My wife loves food competitions, and when she saw this contest she asked that I do a logo for it. If you like it and want to vote, HERE'S where you do it!  Thanks!

Star Wars Clip-Its

Here's another project I did at Hallmark that went on sale nationally this past week.  They retail for $4.95 and are on sale at the Hallmark sections of stores like Walmart and I assume places like Walgreens and wherever.  This project was a bit of childhood wish fulfillment for me--the little Greg of 1983 who saw Return of the Jedi on opening day would have freaked to know he was gonna get to do this!

Wizard of Oz book

Finally something I can show from my job at Hallmark!  This is a recordable storybook that arrived in Hallmark stores this past week and retails for $29.95.  Basically what you do is press a button and record yourself reading the book, and your voice will be preserved for posterity.  As for the character design, I had to follow what Warner Bros had established in their style guide.  However, it was great to finally color a book myself--I'm so used to somebody else coloring my books because I usually have to go off and draw something else for somebody else.





I snapped a couple of photos of the book on display at a Hallmark store.

Animals colored

For fun I colored 49 of these animal icons I've made.  I'll get them on the portfolio site soon.

Rhyming book

Been forever since I posted!  I'm still freelancing occasionally when I'm not at Hallmark.  I'd like to post more, but lately I've gotten a lot of projects I can't put online because they haven't gone on sale yet or they're logos or character designs for things that haven't been made public.  But here's one I can show--it's the 11th book I've done now in the line of activity books that are on sale at Target stores nationwide.  The topic of this one is "rhyming," and another artist will color the book.  Below are a sampling of some of my drawings from this book.

This first one has got a slug and a bug on a rug and a frog and a dog on a log.

 

Then here's some more animals.  I'm amassing a big collection of these animal icons from all of these books.

This one is a big hodge podge of rhyming words.  (Cat in a hat with a bat, etc.)

 

These icons below all have two rhyming words each (well, maybe not the fairy).

  

And then one more big hodge podge.

StinkyKids Book 3

Yikes, I haven't posted since November?  Well, I'm still here, but not freelancing as much since I took the full-time job at Hallmark.  It's too bad I won't be able to post on this blog the things I've been working on there for some time (just look at Hallmark's ridiculous roster of licensees and guess which ones I might like to work on, and yeah, I probably have :)).  But yeah, it's nice to be living normal hours again and having time to do some creative renewal, because I didn't do much of that for a few years.  

I did however recently draw the third book in the "StinkyKids" series, which will be available for purchase starting October 1, 2012.  The typography for the cover above is FPO, not final.  Also, another artist colored the book, just like on the first two books.  

Another cool thing is that the first book in the StinkyKids series won a 2010 Silver Mom's Choice Award, and the second book also won a 2011 Silver Mom's Choice Award.  Maybe the third book will finally get us a Gold?

UPDATE 11/12:  Looks like "Have a Heart" received a 2012 Silver Mom's Choice Award as well.

Here's a few non-spoilery spreads.

"Phonics" icons book

Finished another book for sale in Target stores, this time with the focus on phonics. This book didn't have as many characters to design; it was focused more on objects like trains and flags and fire and tree stumps and such. 120 icons in all, and here are some character-based favorites. As always somebody else will color the book as I move on to the next to draw.

"Sound" icons book

I'm back at the freelance again after an insane amount of change in my life over the last three months. New wife, new city, new job--no sleep!

This art is from another book in the series that are being sold at Target stores across the country. There's 116 icons in this book; above are 16 of the animals and below are 16 of the other icons. The theme of this book is "Sound," so I guess maybe it's supposed to reference how you say the words of these subjects? Anyway, just like the other books in the series, I've drawn the book and somebody else is coloring it.

This is the 10th book in the series I've done for them, and I'm about to start another. Someday I'll sleep again!

November 2011 calendar

One more project to finish in the next few days and then no more freelance for 6 weeks or so!

StinkyKids & other

I've been in the midst of a ton of huge life changes lately, but the work has still been getting done somehow. I finished the second StinkyKids book, and that's the cover above. I only pencilled & inked the book, while another artist colored it. According to Amazon.com, the book should be available September 16.

Also below are some simple illustrations, where there were supposed to be two to an 8 1/2 x 11" sheet of paper.

4 books

Last night waiting on my doorstep was a box with my artist copies of four children's books I worked on last year! They turned out great--I couldn't be happier. Looks like the nieces and nephews have presents coming! A note in the box said they'd be available at Target stores nationwide starting in July.

Here and here's the original blog posts for the ABC book seen above.



Here's the original blog post for the Bee book above.



Here's the original blog post for the Bunny book above.



Here's the original blog post for the Same and Different book above.

2012 Directory ad

Here's what I'll be putting in the 2012 Directory of Illustration.

Surf Heaven

Here's a self-promotion piece I did for my 2012 Directory of Illustration page. I wanted to do another piece in the lineless style I was doing for the Rudolph art, and one that complemented the Santa piece I did for Christmas this past year.

More Rudolph art

I'm loving doing this lineless art style like they do in Golden Books. I'm going to do more work like this on some upcoming personal stuff.

Baby icons

August 2011 calendar

August is grilling time!