The Weight of Fear

I was recently going through some of my older illustrations, and came across this one I did for the May 2009 In Touch magazine. The article was written by a woman who had struggled with anorexia since she was a child, and how God brought her through it. It’s in a different style than most of my stuff, but I was pretty happy with the final result.

Illustration © In Touch magazine.

Advertisement

When Squirrels Go Bad (yeah…like THAT’S a stretch!)

As my friends know, I DESPISE squirrels.

Well, as if my feelings towards these nasty little vermin needed any prodding, I stumbled upon a video of a squirrel dropping the false pretense of “cute little acorn eater” and going full-blown, Wild Kingdom carnivore on a blue jay. (Due to the nature of the video and some language therein I won’t post a link, but it isn’t that hard to find the video in question on YouTube.)

Now, before anybody starts yacking about “he was only defending his nest”….nope, that argument doesn’t work. To kill the blue jay as an act of self-preservation is one thing, but the bushy-tailed rat EATS the blue jay! There’s even a follow-up video that shows what was left of the bird when ol’ Squirrelly McNutjob got finished chowing down.

So think about that the next time you’re tossing crackers to a squirrel in the park. He may be nibbling away on that saltine, but the whole time he’s doing that, he’s also scoping you out and thinking, “Mmmm-mmmm….fresh meat!”

Santa vs. OSHA

C’mon! I mean, the man flies around the world at light speed being pulled by reindeer! And without the benefit of so much as a seat belt! Do you honestly think job safety is a high priority for Santa Claus???

This is the illustration for the poster advertising my town’s annual Christmas Tree Lighting. Still can’t seem to get drunken Santa approved.

Maybe next year…

Step-by-Step Illustration Quickie

Here’s my latest piece for In Touch magazine. The article is about turning times you stumble as a parent into opportunities to grow closer to your child. Thought I’d give you a condensed version of how I did it.

Step 1: As you can see, I don’t believe in submitting tight roughs for concept approval. If you get too detailed, you risk losing some creative flexibility in the final execution.

Step 2: Final line art done in ballpoint pen (I’m starting to really like using them for my illustrations, and not just my doodling).

Step 3: I convert the line art to a “multiply” layer in Photoshop, and create a second layer underneath it. On this new layer I then paint in solid areas of color.

Step 4: Finally, I go in and do some color modeling to give the image more depth.

And there you have it… one extremely truncated explanation of the steps I use to create a finished illustration.