Updated my website... reworked the navigation for the whole thing and finally added an ANIMATION/DESIGN page:
http://ajsmith.net/anim.html
and a TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATION page: http://ajsmith.net/tech.html

Take the train up from Boston or wheel down 93/95 from NH!

Can you think of anything more boring to kids? Lots of room to stuff in some BORING! ... yawn.

visual brainstorming a new picture book project...

quick illo for the Maine Illustrators' site... which BG looks best?
http://www.maineillustratorscollective.org/

It was a different year for me, to say the least. On a personal level, it was a wonderful year with a new house and a new baby (although technically she arrived 12/08). Professionally, things were a bit stagnant, like a lot of areas of our economy. 2006, 2007, 2009 all saw me do very well as a full time freelance illustrator. But after turning down a 6 book deal (because I was Daddy Daycare), I had no book offers come my way all of 2009. Pictured below are some of the jobs and personal projects I dabbled with.

"fight", "fort" and "flakes"

rejected images from an illustrated icons project i am working on.

I suffer from the unfortunate affliction of being an obsessive hockey fan, particularly a Montreal Canadiens fan. I wish I could stop, sometimes. I have been able (until very recently) to keep my hockey watching urges in check by not ordering cable. I am, however, unable to keep myself from hanging on each review from online bloggers like Apon Basu's daily hab-it http://dailyhab-it.blogspot.com/. In a weak attempt to validate this addiction, I've offered to do a logo design for his site. As such, here are some of the ROUGH first brainstorms:





I want the image to be clear but with a retro NFBC-esque feel.

Rough layout sketches for a birds' nest poem.

playing around with some ideas...

and Humpty Dump...

(pretty corny joke but i like how it came out)

opening spread (maybe?) for new "duck" book

HEY KIDS! If you are in/around NH on Dec 5th, come check out the Salem NH Book Fair! I'll be there with Mike Gorman, a VERy talented and funny illustrator from Portland!

sketch Lisa Ann II in the Merimack River. I plan on doing a whole series of these, provided I can find some good brush pens soon.

'nuff said!

All the spooky silliness can be ordered from Amazon...

FANG FAIRY
http://www.amazon.com/Fang-Fairy-Graphic-Sparks-Novels/dp/1598898914/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255032288&sr=1-12

BUZZ BEAKER: BILLIONS OF BATS
http://www.amazon.com/Billions-Bats-Beaker-Brainstorm-Graphic/dp/1598894080/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255030874&sr=1-4

and NEW this year, BUZZ BEAKER VS DRACULA
http://www.amazon.com/Buzz-Beaker-Dracula-Graphic-Sparks/dp/1434211916/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255032239&sr=8-1

yes, it;s come to that!

Would a 4-5 yr old read (or look at the pictures) of a picture book under the covers with a flashlight (in lieu of sleep)?


I know the idea of a kid with a flashlight under the covers is oft-used prototypical imagery (and that's OK with me) BUT at WHAT age do they do this? I know I did it but I feel like it wasn't until older... I don't know.

I do have to swap out the Mad magazine parody in favor of a picture book (4 yr olds wouldn't be reading mad--wouldn't get the joke)

I have to nail the age logistics.

HELP!

01--"Suki" commissioned pet portrait sketches
02--"Even Monsters" page sketches

Time will tell what gets accomplished. Baby will also have a large say in that!

all that's missing is the MAZE!

the only difference is the monster kids in the "background" of the bus.

quicky quackies

a quickie...

old


new

Fooling with some character ideas for two little monster brothers...