Monday, December 21, 2009

7 weeks and going strong!




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




Tuesday, December 08, 2009

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!



Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Elf Dude

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


Monday, November 23, 2009

Scooter Lady


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

Friday, November 06, 2009

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

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.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

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. :)



Thursday, October 22, 2009

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!


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Just another sketch

Here's something just sketched up.




Thursday, October 01, 2009

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!









Thursday, September 17, 2009

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!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

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!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

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!







Saturday, August 01, 2009

Small Town Church


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


Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Textbook Cover



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

Later!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

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.  :)



Monday, June 15, 2009

Monday, June 08, 2009

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!




Monday, June 01, 2009

The Karate Kid


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



Monday, May 25, 2009

Pingo!



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

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Friday, May 15, 2009

Haleakala

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

Later! 

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

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!

Monday, April 27, 2009

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!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

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!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

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!









Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Sketching Around

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


Friday, April 03, 2009

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!



Thursday, April 02, 2009

FABLEHAVEN 4 Interior


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


Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Goosebumps Horrorland

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

Later!
  




      


Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Monday, January 19, 2009

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!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Dooooodle

Isn't doodling just the best thing ever?  

Monday, January 05, 2009

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.