Cat & Bunny in stores January 27th, 2015

It is finally happening! My first book, Cat & Bunny (Balzer+Bray, HarperCollins), will be in store in just a couple of weeks, on January 27th!

I am having a book launch party to celebrate the publication at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's on January 29th at 7pm, so please stop by and get your copy signed! 

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...

radio flyer

It has just occured to me where I must have gotten the inspiration to draw a little blonde kid on a red wagon...Calvin and Hobbes! Bill Watterson (along with Norman Rockwell) was one of the most influencial artsists for me growing up. The artwork is permanently etched into my brain and must be coming out now that I'm drawing more kids. Of course he's dressed differently and his hair is tamed and he has an honestly pleasant expression on his face, so he isn't exactly Calvin. He's close though....

fig in the grass

Fig the fox is my newest character. She is sweet and shy and loves to dance. If you've been reading my blog then you've probably already met her, though I love this image and wanted to share it with you. It very much represents her ways. She's not hiding in order to jump out and scare anyone, but rather she enjoys hanging back and watching things from afar (unnoticed if possible). Good thing she is a fox and slyness runs in her family!

little kiddos

Vivian is feeling nervous and a bit scared because she doesn't know anyone at the party. They all seem to know eachother really well already, maybe they went to the same nursery school? Eventually she will start dancing.

I love when babies make such a mess with cake! It's one of those things we find adorable even though it's really kinda gross looking. The moms get a chance at a grown-up conversation although they are undoubtably talking about their kids.

 Just messing with the dollhouse and moving around all their stuff. It's alright, they don't seem to mind. For some reason it's more fun to put things in place through the window rather than the big open wall, because why would a house be missing a whole side anyway?

And finally, the cranky, over-tired kid. Vivian hates going to bed when everyone else gets to stay up and watch a movie. She really is tired, more than she knows. In about 1 minute she will stop screaming and be so glad because her pillow is very comfy and all she wants is to close her eyes and be fast asleep. 

...more to come...

happiness and suspicion

moving the boat

Bunny has the best friends.

jump!

party!

This little scene speaks for itself, I believe! Bunny's friends know him well and have given him books for his birthday, mostly non-fiction and how-to manuals. He's going to have learn how to build himself another bookshelf!

super bunny

Here are a few more of the most recent Bunny and Bear pictures. I'm working on illustrating the characters in diverse settings and using interesting perspectives. I really love the painting of Super Bunny (above) because he seems weightless, like the clouds behind him.

This one shows the interior of Bunny's home, in the trunk of a tree. His place is cosy and he has made pot of hot chocolate to cheer himself up a bit because his plans for the day must wait until the rain lets up. 

Bunny has recruited Bear into helping him build a boat, so they pack a lunch of sandwiches and a thermos of cocoa and begin felling the first tree to make into lumber. I don't think they realize how much work building a boat will be, but at least they are doing it together and have brought snacks to carry them through it.

More to come!

bunny stories

Meet my new little character, Bunn. He's a little rabbit who will some day soon have a little story to be a part of, though for now I'm just exploring how to draw him and his other critter friends. 

Here he is on a bicycle, probably zipping through the little animal town.

He is learning to swim in the local pond, but is a little worried.

I think he's a little down because it's raining outside.

This is such a fun little world to create and I'll be posting further developments on this blog. When I've got a strong story and illustrations I plan to put together a children's book dummy and send it to agents and publishers, both as a sample of my skills but also in hopes of getting it published!

In other news, I've been designing a logo for an organic farm in Canada and I have also done two wedding invitations recently. On top of this I'm currently working on designs for a mural which I'll be flying to Boston to paint in June! The mural is at 1369 Coffee House in Cambridge (Inman Square) and it's going to rock. 

So, lots of things are happening and soon there will be new posts with images of these recent projects. Subscribe to this blog so you can be notified when I post an update. Just type your email address into the subscribe box on the right column.

One more thing: I added Facebook/Twitter icons to these posts so that you can share them with your friends....you know you want to!