I just finished my first Spanish TV interview. Thank you to Sara Palacios for helping me practice my spanish while we went sketching on location.

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Hi-

Here is my piece for the 94109 Show at Studio Gallery. Also the finished illustration for the College of Charleston Magazine. More soon!

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Here are some of my left over drawings from ILL 699 Character Design for Children's Book Class (and scary slasher one from Eli Harris' Clothed Figure Class). They are all about 10 minute poses.

I loved teaching the course, and can't wait till the next term. I'll post up some of the best work from the students on the AAU Children's Book blog soon.

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Just a few updates. First, I'm excited to be doing another illustration for the College of Charleston Magazine.  I'll post the final illustration in a couple of weeks.

Also I'm participating in the 94109 show at Studio Gallery. More details soon, but it will be on location sketch. To practice, I've begun sketching outdoors a bit.

Lastly, it's the end of the semester and the students continue to amaze me.  Take a peek of their terrific work on the AAU Children's Book Blog. 

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Fellow Children's Book author/illustrator, Kristi Valiant asked me to participate in this blog crawl called the Next Big Thing. She sent me some fun questions and here are my answers. At the end I put links to a few of my fellow friends who will posting their responses soon.

1. What is the title of your next book?
Santiago Stays 

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
The idea came from a meeting I had with Appleseed in 2011. I had a french bulldog character in my portfolio and the publisher really thought there was a story there. I ended up incorporating aspects of my personal relationship with my older brother to sort of round out the narrative. 

3) What genre does your book fall under?
It's a young picture book.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Growing up, my brother was often told he looked like a young Ralph Macchio. 

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

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Maria Had A Little Llama is the review of the day on Betsy Bird's blog for School Library Journal. I am absolutely thrilled.  Published by Henry Holt, the book comes out August 20th.

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Here is the final illustration for the 826 Valencia Cover. It's a wraparound with french flaps.

Also good news! I will be illustrating a picture book with Candlewick (2015). It's hard to believe, but it will be my tenth book that I've illustrated.

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Here are a few sketches done on location at the Oakland Zoo. My Character Design for Children's Books class went there to do animal drawing from life. 

In other news, I'm sending of one my Let's Go, Hugo! illustrations for the ABFFE's art auction at the BEA. The auction will be May 29th during the annual Books Expo. 

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Here are some sketches and a sneak peek of one the interiors spot illustrations from the 826 Valencia 10th Anniversary Quarterly I am working on.

Also GREAT news!!!! My Yarn Story, a children's book which I've been working on for almost 2 and half years, finally has a home. I'm so excited to be working my team at from Let's Go, Hugo!  on a book again.

Lastly, I've updated the Let's Go, Hugo! the website.

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I'm delighted to say that I will be illustrating the upcoming 826 Valencia Tenth Anniversary Quarterly. It's wonderful book that showcases young writers from the 826 writing workshops and events. The foreword will be written by Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler) with the introduction by Dave Eggers.

More details soon, but I have a few things in development with TR!CKSTER Gallery in Berkeley. 

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It's week 2 of Spring semester at the AAU. Below are a few of the sketches from the Character Design course I'm teaching this semester. I've been able to sneak in some drawing time beside my students.

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I've been writing quite a bit lately developing new projects and preparing for the new MFA Character Design for Children's Books at AAU. Also in anticipation of the new semester,  I've been doing painting studies and sketchbook drawings. Below are some quick gouache paintings (copies of Uglow).

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I'm delighted to say I was featured on 7 Impossible Things, a terrific Children's Book Blog written by editor/author Julie Danielson. In addition, I just updated my website.

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Hi-

I'll be posting more next week with some exciting news and updates to my websites, blogs, etc. For the meantime, here is a logo design I did for my sister-in-law's, Jessica Dominguez's, delicious cake company: South Austin Cakes.  Happy 2013!

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Hello-

Here is a sneak peek of the banner for the Let's Go, Hugo! website. It's going live January 1st, 2013!

I've also posted a revised sketch for the Yarn Story.

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Just got back from NY which was utterly wonderful. I'm currently working on creating a few book trailers for   "Let's Go Hugo!", reworking my website, and sketches for tentative projects.  I'll be posting the trailer and revamped website very next year. New sketches soon!

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I'm headed to New York finally next week to meet with my publishers and see some dear friends. A new Hugo sculpture will be coming along, and soon he'll be going on a few solo trips.

In other news, I'm teaching a brand new class next semester called Character Design for Children's Books in the MFA department at AAU. I'm also building the online course and that will be available sometime next year.

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Well, I had to delay my trip to NY due to a certain storm named Sandy. I'll be heading out there in December instead. I can't wait!

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I'll be posting the finals soon, but here is a revised final sketch for my book Santiago Stays (Appleseed 2013). It's keeping me busy in between teaching. In addition, I'm on the committee for the Sixth Annual SCBWI SF Illustrator Day on September 29th, 2012. Should be a great event and it's not too late too register!

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Another little Hugo Promotional material. So much fun to design.

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Hello-

I'll thrilled to be at APE again this year. I'll be at table #709 with Eli Harris and Sara Palacios. Come visit us either Saturday 11am to 7pm or Sunday from 11am to 6pm at the Concourse Center in San Francisco. We'll be selling prints, calendars, and more.

In other news, I just moved art studios. I'm now over at Art Explosion with Olivia Chen. Check out her work at: www.oliviachenart.com.

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I had a wonderful time at APE this past weekend. Thank you to my amazing table mates (Eli Harris and Sara Palacios) my students, friends, and delightful family that stopped by. Can't wait for next year.

In other news, I'm going to my second orientation at 826 Valencia this week. It's a writing center for children and adults. Thumbs up to the inspiring Lisa Brown for introducing me to this tremendous organization.

Lastly, here is another little Santiago preview. I'm just finishing up a few revisions and the cover. I love my collaborative team at Appleseed!

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Hello-

Here are some recent life drawing sketches from a character design class. They were so fun to do.

In other news, I'm headed to NY in less than two weeks. I'll be meeting with my agent, friends, and publishers. Looking forward to it!

Lastly, here is a link to the AAU Children's Book Club. I'm faculty advisor to the club, and we've had some great guest speakers lately.

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I've been working a personal story for the past two years off and on. Here is a small sketch from the newest children's book dummy. Fingers crossed.

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