It has been a while since I added a new post. I’m writing for the first time since changing my host. There was a server glitch with my previous service, so I switched hosts, moving everything under the umbrella of the talented team at The Rampant Creative Group. The Rampant designed and developed this site and I think you’ll agree with me that they do great work. I hope you pay them a visit at www.TheRampant.com.
One of the joys of being a freelance illustrator is the opportunity to “reinvent” myself. About fifteen years ago I started to work with vector illustration. Vector programs, like Adobe Illustrator, are great for the fun art that I do for children’s books and curriculum. I like to point out that I didn’t get into digital art in order to keep up with technology so much as to see what creativity I could draw out of that technology. I work in both vector and raster programs (like Corel Painter and Photoshop). Interestingly, one of my clients calls my vector work my “pen & ink” style, while others thought my Corel Painter work was done traditionally, with paint and brush. This pleases me as my goal is not to do computer or traditional work, but to make art. Any medium or format is fine with me, if it allows me to try new things. Click on the children’s book portfolio above to see vector samples like the boy with the rocket model.
Good day. The new ToonWare Facebook page is up and running. Click on the FB link and then find the ToonWare link in the upper right of my Facebook page. That page will give you a preview of ToonWare images and let you link to my ToonWareHouse shop. Enjoy.
Coming soon: my new Facebook fan page for ToonWare. Until then, click on the ToonWare logo (or Toonwarehouse in the menu bar) to link to my online shop for musician apparel and accessories.
Coming soon, my ToonWare fan page. Until then click on the ToonWare logo to get to the ToonWareHouse, my online store for musician apparel and accessories.
I’m not the best English speaker in the world. I fumble over pronunciation and usage as much as anyone. Yet there are some misuses of the language that make me cringe. My prevailing nemesis is the oft used non-word “irregardless”. Regardless of intent, this is not a word. There is however a laundry list of words, combinations, phrases, pronunciations and enunciations that baffle me still. So I want to introduce Don Holferkamp’s wonderful book, A Lighthearted Book of Common Errors. Don was an editor at Concordia Publishing House. He wrote this book to offer fun and lighthearted corrections for our common errors (hey, that sounds like the title). This isn’t a brow-beating tome, but a thoroughly enjoyable collection of oft used misuses of English. I’m happy Don brought me on board to pen some humorous illustrations for the book. If you’re like me, you’ve dangled plenty of participles in your time. Don helps us undangle them. Take a look at http://www.amazon.com/Lighthearted-Book-Common-Errors-ebook/dp/B004O0UDTA
Yep, we did the Megabus. My therapist wife has four conferences to attend in Chicago between now and April, and so we looked for some alternative travel solutions to fit this freelance illustrator’s need for a relaxing ride that can keep a sketchbook stable. Well, I didn’t actually sketch, but I read, and that requires 
smooth sailing too. Driving has gotten too expensive and the Chicagoland traffic can be stressful. Flying used to be an option when St. Louis was a TWA hub and there was a TWA. But now days flying such a short distance is too costly and too time consuming. It barely beats the five or so hour drive, though the flight itself is only about 50 minutes. So Amtrak became our Chicago carrier of choice.
Now we have the Megabus option. I guess we’ve had that for a while, except that we only recently found out about it. Here’s the deal: you go online (megabus.com) and do a search for your dates. The site gives a list of times, each with varying fares. If you like what you see, go for it. If you want to wait and try another search, fine. It might go lower, go higher, or stay the same. The further out you can book, the better chance of a lower rate. So we found a rate that seemed pretty good. We left last Thursday, pretty much on time, and stopped once to eat in McLean, IL, a half hour later in Normal, and then onward and upward to Chicago. The price was right, the ride was good (of course subject to some bumps, road work and traffic jams) and the bus was clean and roomy. Roomy is relative to the height of the rider; for my wife and I, who are average height (I’m just about 5’10″), it was plenty comfortable. I recommend the upper deck.
We’ve already booked for the next conference in November and got the new reservations for half of what we paid this past week. So, try it yourself. I think if the trip is within a reasonable distance, say 300 or so miles, you can’t go wrong. Let me know what you think.
It has been a while since my last post. Maybe that’s not a bad thing because it means I’ve been busy. I’ve had several curriculum jobs recently, which means I’ve had several calls for Illustrating Jesus in a kid-friendly, yet respectful style. Whatever level of “kid-friendliness” is called for, there seems to be one constant. The Red Robe. For several hundred years, maybe more, it has been an artistic must have when illustrating Jesus. There are some color variations. I’ve seen yellow and blue, and maybe a beige or neutral shade, but never green, orange or a print. I’ve no reason to believe, at least I do not know, that Jesus wore such a robe (wrap, shawl) during his earthly ministry. I only know that to illustrate him without it is a departure from a long tradition. Practically speaking it is a visual aid to set Jesus apart from others in the scene. Along with the center-part hair, trimmed beard and pleasant demeanor, the robe (red, yellow or blue, sometimes beige) immediately identifies him. I’ll leave it to scholars as to whether this convention squares with history, but for my part I hope my images help convey to the kids in class that Jesus is their redeemer and friend. If the red robe gets their attention, then I’m cool with that. 
This is a recent illustration I did for Guide Magazine as a freelance illustrator. I used Corel Painter and a Wacom tablet to create this piece. No photos were used, only digital airbrush, conte crayon, vine charcoal and gouache over my scanned pencil sketch. Thank you Guide and designer/illustrator Brandon Reese in Charlotte for this fun assignment.
I’ve been showing a lot of Corel Painter work, like The Flying Kid and School Days illustrations. As a children’s book illustrator, I also do a large amount of vector illustration, using Adobe CS5. I’m in the midst of a couple of freelance Christmas projects and this is a sample of the style I’m using. When I do these, I work differently than when I’m painting on the Wacom tablet. The digital tablet art is done with a number of preliminary thumbnails and rough sketches, with the finals painted on my Mac. The vector art shown in this Christmas piece involved no preliminary sketching on paper. I “sketch” right on the finished product, scrapping anything I don’t like and revising as I draw. What I like about working this way, is that it forces a direct graphic approach that retains spontaneity. It keeps me from over thinking the concept. I do make changes, but they aren’t enslaved to an original sketch, because there is no original sketch. It reminds me of the primitive color forms I had as a kid. You might remember them, those vinyl cut-out shapes, mostly in primary and secondary colors, that were used for making art on a black background. Mine were simple geometric shapes, rather than the later illustrated images. W
orking directly in vector shapes takes me back to my color form days. Recalling my inner five-year old self is a great way to make art.