7 weeks and going strong!

The Christmas Sweater has been on the Best Seller's List for 7 week straight!  Have a Merry Christmas!

My Missing "The"

I have received quite a few emails and comments on about the missing "the" in Santa's Stowaway.  Yes, sadly (while in China being printed) one of the "the's" was abducted from the first printing of Santa's Stowaway.  However, I've received word from my publisher that  we've rescued the poor "the" and it will take it's place once again in the story as Santa's Stowaway is up for reprinting.  Yeah!

Elf Dude

In the spirit of the Christmas season here is a little elf dude.  :)

Scooter Lady

What if the lunch lady scooted around on a little scooter?

Fablehaven 5

And it's out!

Why A Witch Kicking a Pot?

Just because!

Inside Story

So, on Wednesday I was privileged enough to participate in SCBWI's Inside Story held at Third Place book in Lake Forest WA.  It was a great event to get to mingle with fellow illustrators, librarians, teachers and booksellers.  The local Examiner had a little to say about it here.

The Christmas Sweater

So, I have another Christmas book coming out. Today, The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck, is out in stores. Glenn has a promo on his site for it, check it out here.

This was a fun one to work on. Not sure how I have two Christmas books coming out this year, but hey, we did it. :)

Inside Story

This coming Wednesday, Oct. 28th I'll be participating in the SCBWI's Inside Story at Third Place Books in Lake Forest, WA. It's a great opportunity to show off my three picture books I've done this year. If you're a librarian, book seller, teacher and or media person it would be great to see you there!

Just another sketch

Here's something just sketched up.

Halloween Is Here!

It seems appropriate to start off October with a post about Halloween. Last year my first Halloween book came out, Halloween Night, and I received and email from a mother with a picture of the pumkins her girls had carved. Anything look familiar? It's always fun to get emails from readers!

Santa's Stowaway

Alrighty, I think it's about time I got this exciting news up on the blog. Next week my first picture book that I've both authored and illustrated hits the shelves! It's called Santa's Stowaway. I think the 22nd is the offical date.

I wrote Santa's Stowaway as a classic Christmas story that hopefully gives it's readers the "warm fuzzies" over and over each year.

I've updated the site to help get the word out. Hope ya like it.

Later!

Anyone got a tag line?

A while ago I posted a small B&W illo ( Snorer ) and garnished it with a one line tag line. Thought I would see what one-liner those of you who check the blog out would add to this.

Let's see what'cha got!

Pingo's Big Debut

Alright! Today is the official publication date for Pingo!  Both Brandon Mull and I are super excited to see this book out for everyone to enjoy.  I know Brandon Mull is signing copies at the LDS Booksellers Association Convention today.  Wish I could be there as well, however I'm finishing up the art for J. Scott Savage's next Farworld book, Land Keep; yet another great read from Shadow Mountain.

Go Pingo, go!

Small Town Church

Here is something a little different.  This cover was for a warm-n-fuzzy story.

Textbook Cover

Here's a text book jacket I did a bit ago. It was fun one to paint up.

Later!

Clip from the sketchbook

The Uke

While in Hawaii we stopped by a small shop that sold ukuleles.  After a very enthusiastic sales lady and $150 price tag, I was the proud owner of a such an instrument. . . 

I can play 5 songs now. So, my son got Happy Birthday ukulele style.  :)

Someone is watching . . .

Just a little sketch.

Pingo is out!

Online that is. . . .  I just ran across this!  http://pingobook.com/

You can view every wonderful inch of the book!  I hope you all enjoy it!

The Karate Kid

Mister Miyagi was my mentor as well . . . Hawaii was awesome.

Sketchitysketchsketch-sketchums!

 

Pingo!

Here's a spread from Pingo.  You can see another on my site.  It hits bookstores the first week of August!  

Sketchy-Doodle

Haleakala

My wife and I visited Maui's Mt. Haleakala yesterday.  Pretty sweet view. . . . 

Later! 

Nothing In Particular

This wasn't for anything in particular.  I started three cone shapes and a couple hours later . . . whala!  This is what came out.

Later!

Quick Study

Here's a 15 minute study I did to loosen up.  It's crazy how stuff like this helps.  Kinda like warming up before playing basket ball (though, I will admit I paint better than I can play ball).

Later!

Few Updates

Just made a few updates to my site.  Not a major change, but a few newer projects and a hint at my picture book coming out for Christmas. Yeah!

Later!

PINGO!

The last few months have been super busy.  One of the books I finished up and am excited about is Pingo .  I teamed up with Brandon Mull on this one.  It's a funny story about a boy who tries to ditch is imaginary friend as he gets older.  However, this imaginary friend won't go quietly. 

I think it releases in August.  Here's a link to pre-order. :)

Last week the awesome people at Deseret Book sent over the proofs.  It's always fun to see this stage of whole process. 

I'll post some of the spreads as it gets closer to the release date.

Later!

Sketching Around

Here is a little piece I sketched up while trying to break in a new Photoshop brush.  Later!

Bedroom Walls

Back in High School I loved to make images, and nothing has changed.  I asked my parents if I could spray paint my bedroom.  To my surprise they said "yes."  I just about passed out from the fumes.

I did hundreds of drawings at this little table sitting on two kiddy chairs stacked on top of each other.  It's crazy to see what can happen in ten years. 

                       

I got my hands on a airbrush and went to town.  

                                  

Later!

FABLEHAVEN 4 Interior

Just a look at one of the Chapter Heads I did for the 4th Fablehaven book.

Goosebumps Horrorland

Thought I would post a few of the covers I've done for the new Goosebumps Horrorland series.  

Later!

  

      

Another Experiment

A little sparkle to the day

Just got a note from Igrid Law, the brilliant author of Savvy, that the cover of Savvy was voted  "favorite book jacket of 2008" by Publisher's Weekly!  It always adds a little sparkle to the day when there's fun news like this.  

Just as a heads up, I'm currently working on the jacket art for the sequel to Savvy.  Hopefully it will compliment the awesome story once agian.

Later!

Dooooodle

Isn't doodling just the best thing ever?  

FABLEHAVEN 4

In an attempt to help get the word out about book 4 in the Fablehaven series, I thought I'd post the cover.  Though there are a lot of dragons in the book, we went with this huge hydra on the cover.  It was a blast to paint!  I think it releases in March.