Slam Bang: The Hungry Housewives

The next theme for Slam Bang is Femme Fatales. My contribution will be The Hungry Housewives, with all the glitz and gore that suggests. Stay tuned as my 4 pager develops...

This time, the anthology will be in color... I have mixed feelings about that since the comic I have sketched is loaded with the cartoon violence one would expect. At least a toon is always less visceral looking even when horribly violent. Ask Goya...

More Wordsworth and the Dragon Sketches

I just finished a couple ideas: 

First off, the castle. I went a little crazy on this concept probably because I love castles so much and I have been reading my guidebooks for a trip to Greece I am about to take (the DK versions with all the lovely architecture illustrations with cutaways). The tower in the center is where the alphabet is heavily guarded. I also added a hedge maze, aviary, orchard... I am working on a map too.

  




























The throne room. I am integrating a lot of letters in the design. This scene is from the first chapter with Rho, the King and Sir Clooney. 

Read some chapters here: http://wordsworthdragon.blogspot.com/p/chapter-1.html


You can read up to the third chapter.

Books by the Banks Poster Unveiling at Joseph Beth

Detail of the Skyline

Holding my little mockup to the giant banner...

The Discussion Begins

Great night tonight at Joseph Beth! It was great to see so many illustrators in the audience and on the panel.

I brought my mock up of the Cincinnati skyline I illustrated. I hope to have a working one by the show... Any paper engineers out there?

Below are some of the concept sketches.

Original Idealization Thumbnail

Books by the Banks Poster Unveiling and Article

Miffy and the Cincinnati Enquirer Article. When I opened the section to read the article, she immediately plopped on the paper and refused to move and nipped at me when I tried to coax her.

Thursday, September 8

7:00pm - 8:30pm Joseph Beth Booksellers

Celebrate the kick-off of the 2011 Books By the Banks, Cincinnati USA’s Book Festival with a panel discussion and a rare poster signing opportunity with acclaimed illustrators, including this year’s artist, Christina Wald. Also on hand will be Will Hillenbrand, C.F. Payne, Ryan Ostrander, and John Maggard discussing their work and the illustrations they created exclusively for the annual Books By the Banks posters. Since the book festival's inauguration in 2007, the posters – now considered unique collectors' items – have captured the essence of what Books by the Banks means to the community.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=239317536113388

 

My Initial Thumbnail

Hope to see you there!

Sometime later this week I will post some sketches (including the unused concept).

Link to article in the Cincinnati Enquirer by Lauren Bishop:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110904/ENT07/109040338/Illustrator-s-poster-celebrates-books

Link for Coupon if you buy something the day of the event:

http://www.josephbeth.com/events/BBTB-11.pdf

Advance Copies: The Wild Life of Elk

Good News Everyone! I just got some advance copies of The Wild Life of Elk

It was an amazing project and I had an excellent team to work with and it shows in the book. This was also along with author Donna Love, who had the most difficult task of writing a book about elk that was entertaining and interesting and recommended me for this project.

I also was lucky to work with a graphic designer who was willing to make his job a whole lot harder to make the book look REALLY GOOD! (No spread is the same.)

It is a joint venture between Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and US Forest Service and published by Mountain Press Publishing . There is a LOT of art in this book. This is an tiny sample...

Hopefully it will be available at Books By the Banks. There will be some other book signing events along with the book too. Stay Tuned!

Me, doing research in Jackson Hole at the Wildlife Art Museum. I also went to Yellowstone and Missoula,  Montana.