baby!

 Happy baby!

storytime

Storytime!

bears

 I made this pattern last year for a Spoonflower competition and the theme was outdated technology.  I knew that it wasn't the best design for a fabric

 (I wouldn't use it) but I like the illustrations!

To see it used in a repeating pattern, check out my Twitter page.

little women

Here is the illustration I entered into the SCBWI's Tomie dePaola Award contest. The rules were that it had to depict a passage from either Little Women, the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, or the Yearling. It had to be black and white and in a spread format with the text on one side. It was also supposed to be unique!

I decided on this passage because it reflects a moment in time that was both important to the characters in the story but also to the entire nation during the civil war. Gathered together on Christmas, they thought of their father who could not be with them. I love this book and this scene just felt right to me. In order to make it my own and make it unique, I drew them as bunnies! Tomie dePaola didn't like that part, as he said so in his introduction to the winners. Alas, I did not win, although I am still proud of my little painting and wanted to share it.

agent!

Good things are happening: I am now represented by the wonderful Steven Malk at Writers House! Please check out their website where you will find my portfolio: http://www.writershouseart.com. I'm honored to have the same agent as such talented artists as Carson Ellis, Scott Campbell, Marla Frazee, Jon Klassen, and Stephanie Graegin and many more! 

Above is a detail of an illustration I made for a promotional postcard which will be sent out to publishers. I drew a baby for every letter of the alphabet and gave them an animal costume to match their letter! It was so fun to create, although a few letters gave me a hard time...such as U, V, and X....

Unicorn is not an animal! To get ideas I looked online and found that many animal alphabets used unicorn, which I think is sort of cheating, personally. I chose 'Ulysses Butterfly' because it is an animal that actually exists and has a cool name, too. For V, I went with vulture -not the cutest thing ever but the alternatives were very obscure. And for X, I chose x-tetra fish, which I'm pretty pleased with. Since I am looking to do picture books it makes sense to draw little kids and babies, besides the fact that I love to draw them! Also, adding the animal element helps as many picture books have animal characters (which I also happen to love drawing!). Can't wait to see this printed on the postcard, I will post pictures when I get them.

All for now...