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Oooh fuuudge!
Only I didn’t say “Fudge.” I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the “F-dash-dash-dash” word!
*What* did you say?
Uh, um…
That’s… what I thought you said. Get in the car. Go on!
It was all over – I was dead. What would it be? The guillotine? Hanging? The chair? The rack? The Chinese water torture? Hmmph. Mere child’s play compared to what surely awaited me.

Over the years I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap. My personal preference was for Lux, but I found Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor – heady, but with just a touch of mellow smoothness.
Life Buoy, on the other hand…
YECCHH!

The snap of a few sparks, a quick whiff of ozone, and the lamp blazed forth in unparalleled glory.

Oh, look at that! Will you look at that? Isn’t that glorious? It’s… it’s… it’s indescribably beautiful! It reminds me of the Fourth of July

Well I double-DOG-dare ya!

NOW it was serious. A double-dog-dare. What else was there but a “triple dare you”? And then, the coup de grace of all dares, the sinister triple-dog-dare.

I TRIPLE-dog-dare ya!

 Schwartz created a slight breach of etiquette by skipping the triple dare and going right for the throat!

2014 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards Results are in and Picture Book – 4-8 Year Old – SILVER Award goes to: The Swamp Where Gator Hides, by Marianne Berkes; illustrated by Roberta Baird (Dawn Publications)

This book was a joy to work on. I now know more about gators that I ever dreamed I would.

Beautiful creatures really!

He smells.

– What’s his name? – Guess.

Fifi?

That ain’t a name for this mutt.

Rover.

She’s coming. She’s coming.

Hide him.

I love you, Miss Hannigan.

And you will love the paddle closet.

And this…

…will love the sausage factory.

– No, Miss… – What?

We love you, Miss Hannigan.

www.robertabaird.com

“Glorious, stirring sight! The poetry of motion! The real way to travel! The only way to travel! Here today–in next week tomorrow! Villages skipped, towns and cities jumped–always somebody else’s horizon! O bliss! O poop-poop! O my! O my!”
– Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

It seems that those who hire love the speed of digital rendering, but want the look of traditional work.  So, in an ever continuing effort to make my digital look more traditional, I’ve been working on some new techniques. I’ve been leaving in the pencil lines, and in fact, adding a lot more of it…..more detail and hatching before coloring them in Photoshop. I also use Kyle T Webster brushes. They’re fantastic! I highly recommend them!

I like the look. You can see the person behind it. This will be my winter promotional postcard.

“Dear Mrs. Doubtfire,

Two months ago, my mom and dad decided to separate. Now they live in different houses. My brother Andrew says that we aren’t to be a family anymore. Is this true? Did I lose my family? Is there anything I can do to get my parents back together? Sincerely, Katie McCormick.”

Oh, my dear Katie. You know, some parents, when they’re angry, they get along much better when they don’t live together. They don’t fight all the time, and they can become better people, and much better mummies and daddies for you. And sometimes they get back together. And sometimes they don’t, dear. And if they don’t, don’t blame yourself. Just because they don’t love each other anymore, doesn’t mean that they don’t love you. There are all sorts of different families, Katie. Some families have one mommy, some families have one daddy, or two families. And some children live with their uncle or aunt. Some live with their grandparents, and some children live with foster parents. And some live in separate homes, in separate neighborhoods, in different areas of the country – and they may not see each other for days, or weeks, months… even years at a time. But if there’s love, dear… those are the ties that bind, and you’ll have a family in your heart, forever. All my love to you, poppet, you’re going to be all right… bye-bye.  ~Mrs. Dountfire

Remembering Robin Williams.

This is my entry for the Tomie de paola Award contest. This year we were to develop a character through a series of panels to show character development. Mine is more of a storyline, I guess. It was fun creating it though.

Good luck to the ten finalists who are moving on to the next round. Especially our Houston illustrator, Cheryl Pilgrim. Loved her entry… so clever!

http://www.scbwi.org/2014-tomie-depaola-semi-finalists/

How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!  ~ Emily Dickinson

I’ve been working on a Halloween book for Pelican Publishing so I’ve been a little absent from the blog.  I just popped in to say hello! Hello!

Long time no see!

Actually… I’ve been busy working on a new Halloween book that will be released in 2015.

But Sometimes you just have to stop and say hello to old friends.
Like Fairy Mary here. She’s one that has gone through several designs.

Hello Mary!

Where liberty dwells, there is my country. ~Benjamin Franklin

Happy 4th of July!

The Swamp Where Gator Hides written by Marianne Berkes and illustrated by me, Roberta Baird is now an app!! Click here to download it at 20% off!  Dawn Publications Book App

Preview it now!

Whose ready to paint the town red?

See you there!

The next group to follow,
Was a most marvelous band,
Playing marvelous music,
In this most marvelous land.
~Robert Ball

For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver.  ~Martin Luther

Strawberry fields …. forever.

eBoy (“Godfathers of Pixel“) is a pixel art group founded in 1997 by Kai Vermehr, Steffen Sauerteig and Svend Smital.

Their complex illustrations have been made into posters, shirts, souvenirs, and displayed in gallery exhibitions.^[1] They were founded on May 2, 1997. “We started working with pixels because we loved the idea of making pictures only for the screen. It’s the best way to get really sharp and clean looking results. Also, handling pixels is fun and you are forced to simplify and abstract things, which is a big advantage of this technique.” ^[1] eBoy is based in Berlin (Germany) and Vancouver (Canada).

Their influences come from: “Pop culture… shopping, supermarkets, TV, toy commercials, LEGO, computer games, the news, magazines…”^[2] Kai grew up with Nintendo to inspire him, the rest of the eBoys lived in East Germany where video games did not exist.^[3] Their work makes intense use of popular culture and commercial icons, and their style is presented in three-dimensional isometric illustrations filled with robots, cars, guns and girls. Now, most of their designs are printed and not used solely for computer screens, allowing images to get more complex with details.^[1]“If we don’t work on other projects at the same time it takes about six to eight weeks to finish a very detailed cityscape, three eBoy’s working on it, nearly full time. But, if we have to do it in our spare time, which happens often, it could take years to finish a picture since we can’t spend so much time on it.”^[1] Their style has gained them a cult following among graphic designers worldwide,^[1] as well as a long list of commercial clients. Their latest project are plastic Peecol toys with Kidrobot, and a line of wooden toys are to be produced under their own label.

Source: Wikipedia

Visit Eboy’s web site here.

Check out Amazon for Eboy Posters