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I did this as a drawing first, then as a vector illustration and now finally as an acrylic paintings on canvas!
http://www.imagekind.com/Santas-Trippin-acrylic_art?IMID=645281d1-4846-4ae7-9b43-eba25dcfc764

My first post for Sugar Frosted Goodness.I dabble between painterly and cartoony. But since time was a issue this month. I tried something simplerHappy holidays.

Santa baby, slip an JigSaw under the tree, for me

I’ve been an awful good boy

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, a stainless steel propane outdoor grill,

BTU’s

I’ll wait up for you dear

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Think of all the games I’ve missed

Think of all the chores that still persist

Next year I could do so much more

It’ll help me check off my Honey-Do list

Boo doo bee doo

Santa honey, I want an Autobot and that’s

Not a lot

I’ve been an angel all year

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa cutie, there’s one thing I really do need,

The feed

To the Heavyweight Fight

Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa Baby, Fill my stockings with TexMex

And sex

A T-Rex would be fine

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Come and trim my Christmas tree

With a Hedge Trimmer, lifetime guaranteed

I really do believe in you

Let’s see if you believe in me

Boo doo bee doo

Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing,

An X-Wing

The real thing

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Hurry down the chimney tonight

Hurry down the chimney tonight

…

Helping a buddy out at Christmas time. Digger can't write so what's a gal to do. Happy Holidays.

Happy Friday everyone!  

This week, I worked up some Santa Illustrations for a potential project. This happens quite a lot . There will be a request from a publisher to see samples reflecting a certain theme and your agent sends samples from his/her stable of artists. I wanted to be included in this submission so I had to get these completed quickly. 

They are a bit different from my typical style. I omitted the stitching in hopes that it would help them look a tad older. Plus, it was quicker. =o) 

This is something completely new for me.  The book I illustrated for the talented Karen Morss is now available as an iPad App.  Just in time for the holidays and at such a fantastic price.  I heard the audio and it is adorably enhanced by the sweet voices of the poodles.   Karen actually set up her own recording studio in home to capture those children's voices.  There is something for everyone in her story.

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Congratulations to Melanie Mitchell, who received the 2010 ΦBK Science Book Award for her book Complexity: A Guided Tour! In honor of this, Michelle and Lauren talk with Mitchell about ants, robots, the economy, and more.

Melanie Mitchell is Professor of Computer Science at Portland State University and External Professor and Member of the Science Board at the Santa Fe Institute. Her research interests include artificial intelligence, machine learning and complex systems.

Subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes!

From the Phi Beta Kappa Society:

Amazing feats of collective intelligence, such as the colony of army ants that link themselves together to cross daunting precipices, are having an unconventional effect on the future of science. The “complexity” of these naturally occurring events cannot be explained by the traditional method of breaking science down into its most basic parts, in this case, the individual army ants. Instead, the study of complex systems, those made up of simple components with limited capacity for communication, provide a much broader illustration of the science of self-organization and adaptation.

In Complexity: A Guided Tour (Oxford University Press, 2009), Melanie Mitchell draws on her background as a computer scientist and her work with the Santa Fe Institute to study the complex systems that have evolved in nature and how they may contribute to the future of computer programming, specifically with regards to artificial intelligence. Mitchell also looks at the human brain’s ability to create consciousness from a complex network of electrically charged neurons, axons, and dendrites, as well as the immune system’s unique collection of cells, which work together in an effective and efficient way without any central control.

The song featured in this podcast is “In the Middle” from the album Can’t You See by The Ben Daniels Band. Get it here.

Here’s a quickie I worked on for “prehistoric.”  I admit it, I love the caveman commercials!

Most of my time right now is being spent working on working on my first picture book, due out in the spring of 2011! So if I seem out of the loop… you’ll find me at my wacom, painting detailed illustrations of snuggly creatures.

We here at The Spectacle, like all writers, strive to create characters who will be loved and remembered for a lifetime—maybe even for generations. That can happen in any genre (think of Shakespeare’s famous heroes and villains), but perhaps speculative fiction writers have an advantage because we are creating characters who are more—or less—than human. This helps them stand out against the thousands of characters who have to depend solely on their own human skills and personalities to be memorable. (Creating a great speculative character has its own challenges and risks, but that’s not the direction I’m going with this post.)

So who is the greatest speculative character of all time? Dracula? Frankenstein’s monster? Spiderman? Harry Potter?

I’ll cast my vote for Santa. You could call him a lot of things. A historical character who has changed over the years. A metaphor for love and generosity. A commercialized distraction to the real meaning of Christmas. A bribe/threat to get kids to behave. Regardless of your sociopolitical opinion, one thing is for sure, this jolly old soul has cemented his place in the hearts and minds of children and adults around the world.

A quick web search will find dozens of books on Santa. They range from historical to sweet to comedic, with art styles from realistic to cartoony. Most if not all are targeted at younger readers, 0-8, those who still Believe. Hmm, does this indicate an opportunity for middle grade/YA writers to create the next big speculative hero, to fill the gap after all the vampires, werewolves, fairies, zombies and mermaids?

Or maybe we should just leave Santa alone, in the happy world of childhood dreams.

Chris Eboch with the Haunted series

Ho ho ho. Pass the eggnog!

2 Comments on The Most Magical Hero of All, last added: 12/8/2010

So here I sit, wracking my overused brain to find a topic for this post - something of such unbelievable value to everyone that it becomes a permanent bookmark on your browser - when it hits me.

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By: Darcy Pattison, on 11/24/2011
Blog: Darcy Pattison's Revision Notes (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:  novel revision, 12 days of christmas, 3 kings, frosty, gingerbread man, how to write, lesson plans, rudolph, santa, writing tips, Add a tag

Top Writing Tips from Seasonal Personalities

For the seventh year, Fiction Notes offers writing tips from popular personalities of the season. Tomorrow, the Grinch joins the lineup, with Top 5 Writing Tips from the Grinch (link will work on Friday, Nov. 25).

Top Writing Tips from Rudolph, Santa, Frosty, Gingerbread Man, 12 Days of Christmas, and the 3 Kings

• Santa’s Top 5 Writing Tips
• Rudolph’s Top 5 Writing Tips
• Frosty’s Top 5 Writing Tips
• The Gingerbread Man’s Top 5 Writing Tips
• 12 Days of Christmas Writing Tips
• 7 Writing Tips from the 3 Kings

Winter Writing Lesson Plans for Teachers

In appreciation for all you do for children’s literature, I am offering a free set of lesson plans for Winter Writing with Kids. Based on popular Christmas and winter children’s stories, kids will learn 34 skills of writing.

Download the FREE Winter Writing with Kids 2011 here (pdf).