Shadow Mountain has Game

Shadow Mountain has game (pun totally intended). The new book in Brandon Mull's Candy Shop War series comes with more than just an incredible story and sweet cover art (if I do say so myself), inside you'll find a pretty awesome game. Here's a link to explain more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLtQmqv4RAo

Also, check out the worlds biggest marshmallow fight too!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4YeTwcUHvE

Pingo and the Playground Bully

It was a super big privilege to work with Brandon Mull and Shadow Mountain again on our new picture book, Pingo and the Playground Bully. It's been out for about a month and getting some great reviews. Check it out! http://brandonmull.com/site/pingo-books

Post Something

My blog told me this morning that if I didn't post something soon it would leave me. Can't have that. So the something is a portrait from a photo. I do a lot of stylized work, that is was really relaxing having all the info that I wanted right there in front of me to pick and choose from. Enjoy. :)

Pirates Are Honored

One of the wonderful art directors I work with sent me a note and this link a week ago. It looks like Pirates of the Sea! was given an honor award by Minnesota State University Moorhead. Mega or modest, it's always a great feeling to see your work appreciated. Thanks to those who took a chance on Cap'n Bones and his swashbuckling pirate crew!

Interiors

Every so often I get a chance to do book interior illustrations. I love doing them. True, from a money standpoint they are not all that profitable, but there is something about a B&W small spot piece of artwork that is so enjoyable. Today, I'm working away on 6 interiors for the new Janitors book by Tyler Whitesides, but I've attached some here that I recently did for The Land of Stories. Hope you like them!

Later!

New Images

Not long ago I redesigned my website so I could use Wordpress. Now I can upload and change things much easier than before!  I've got a few new ones up today. Here is one.

Later!

School Visit

Just thought I would give a shout out to Canyon Vista Elementary, and say "thanks for having me!"  Two weeks ago, while on a trip to sunny southern California, I was privileged to do an assembly here. The students were great. They had insightful questions and welcomed me with lots of smiles. We talked about what they like to draw and how to use your imagination. It's alway a blast to visit young students and feed off their enthusiasm. I love doing these visits. I just need to figure out how to incorporate my ukulele playing somehow. :)

Why is "gross" so fun?

Why is creating weird and gross characters so fun? I've often commented that the my least favorite thing to paint is teen girls ( though, I love creating images so much, I still like painting them ) because everything on them has to be so perfect. I mean, if a teen girl's nose is a little off it shouts ERROR!! But, on a gross-monster-zombie-weird-guy, if the nose is out-of-wack it is the coolest thing!  And in 20 minutes you can create something like this. Gross is fun, it's just plain and simple. :)

The Land of Stories

Thought I would post a cover that I recently did for a new series. It's called The Land of Stories, by Chris Colfer.  He is the actor in the popular show Glee. Unfortunately I've not seen the show( sorry Chris! ), but I've loved working on the artwork for this book.  Aside from the cover, I've done 25 interior black and white illos and am currently working on a super cool fold out map. The story introduces a great new twist on all of our favorite characters from storybook tales like Cinderella and Snow White.

Hope you like it!

Later!

Finding a Character

Over the last few months (in between work) I've been searching for a character that I could create a series of stories around. And I think I've finally found one . . . He is not any particular animal, but just a fun fuzzy, uh. . . creature.  His name is still up in the air, but these are a couple I'm toying with:

Hal-o. (That's Hal with an o added to the end.)
Bazooki. (I heard this on the radio and thought it was fun to say.)
Wynn (It sounds a little British to me, but hey maybe he's European)
Cory (A little too ordinary . . . but it could still work.)

If you have any ideas, let me know what you think!

Later!

So, the question is . . .

What is his song???

Takin' a breather

I took a few minutes this morning to paint something out of my norm. I really think it's valuable to take a breather from deadlines and just enjoy making an image. That's why we're illustrators, right? We love making good images.  Below is a quick painting from a photo I had sitting on my desktop. When painting from a photo like this, I try and find a way to enhance what is working well in the original image . . . while painting this, it was really relaxing. I felt kinda like I was getting a message. Though, I've never had a massage, but I can imagine what it's like: painting a small farm church at dusk. . . ?  :)

Website Update 2012

Hey hey . . . I have a website update to share. And a few new illos up on there as well. Hope you like what's up. :)

www.brandondorman.com