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There is so much to love in this smart, modern, and funny rhyming picture book. It is paced beautifully and you can feel the tempo pick up and then settle down for the ending. I found the framework of the dojo daycare and sympathetic storyline toward the 'master' really inventive. My kids (5 and 3 years old) love rereading to follow the smaller details and mini-plots. 


I was given a review copy by the publisher, but my words and opinions are my own.

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Here’s something new that came in last week. I did a spread for Chirp magazine’s June 2014 issue, entitled, “Soccer In New Zealand”. It depicts a youth soccer tournament held in New Zealand called “Jambo”. I had a lot of fun putting this together, from depicting flags and soccer players from various countries. It has various puzzles to play, including finding things in the picture, as well as spotting balls that are NOT used in soccer. Off to the far bottom right are a few little informational facts about New Zealand. After drawing this, I hope to someday visit the country myself!

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Here's something new that came in last week. I did a spread for Chirp magazine's June 2014 issue, entitled, "Soccer In New Zealand". It depicts a youth soccer tournament held in New Zealand called "Jambo". I had a lot of fun putting this together, from depicting flags and soccer players from various countries. It has various puzzles to play, including finding things in the picture, as well as spotting balls that are NOT used in soccer. Off to the far bottom right are a few little informational facts about New Zealand. After drawing this, I hope to someday visit the country myself!

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I have been making paper toys of every variety with my four year old since he was about two and a half. Most of them have been far too complicated for him to do alone, and frustrating for the adult who is helping along. Not only is Delphine's book gorgeously illustrated, inventive, and unique, it is surprisingly doable for a four year old with just a bit of help. The instructions are so helpful, and the addition of the heavy stock street makes this more than just toys to sit on a windowsill. They become, as the title says, My Town.

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Hi everybody! I have a few things that are out in print this month so I wanted to get them up on the blog.

First up is a spread I did for the Jan-Feb ’13 issue of Chirp magazine. This was a lot of fun to assemble and figure out, to have characters applying and wearing body paint. I learned a lot about the art form just doing research. Some samples of the spread are below. Thank you, Owlkids, for the fun project!

Closer…

Closer again.

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I have an almost 4yo little craft monster in my house. He's also obsessed with Christmas. So we turn to OwlKids My Beastly book of Tangled Tinsel for creative, chaotic, fun. It's certainly geared at slightly older kids, but there is still plenty for him (and I) to do. I also plan on pulling this out for visiting cousins.
As an artist, it was really interesting to see him try and draw the expressions on the faces. I highly recommend picking up this book. The illustrations by Christine Roussey are so fun and creative. Visit her website for more of her amazing work.

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Created by Séverine Cordier and Cynthia Lacroix, Picture My World is an unexpected treat of a book. It's smaller size belies the bigness and thoughtfulness inside. It's a bit of an unstructured story of three sibling and the little and big events over a year, and out of order at that. It feels like a window into another family but the every-family. The hair rinsing scene above in the bathtub is exactly how it works with my two children.
And there are the three siblings, together, in all stages of swinging. I look forward to both my kids dogearing and loving this book for all it's specialness.

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Time to post some samples! Below is some (fairly) recent work that’s been published. This is a game kids can play by cutting out the squares and making unique stories (see sample, below, that demos how). Looks to be fun, really! I’ve done several Silly Story Cards and find them quite fun to illustrate. Thanks, Chirp!

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I love doing spreads like this for my clients! It’s like a puzzle within a puzzle for me, to work out the fun activities for the kiddos to interact with! I took a photo this time, but have the art specs from the AD, my rough, and some pull-outs from the final to show you. The designer made a good call to drop the color background on the pavement in the end. It really made the game pop out!

Below: specs from designer.

Below: my rough.

Below: my final.

Below: some pull-outs.

(c) Owlkids

Thank you, Chirp!

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DRUMROLL.....

For just a little segueway into next week's big-bang PBJ Owlkids Book Week (which is sure to be full of fun! thrills! and—yes!—a very nice giveaway, too!), please do meet the latest illustrator-subject of my complete adoration!

Bérengère Delaporte is the masterful artist behind Owlkids' My Beastly Book of Twisted Tales activity book. I'll go so far as to say I am googley-eyed over her work. Furthermore, I will break the suspense and tell you even before my official review that, yes, this book is a totally delightful ride of wild mayhem, bewildering humor, and some extremely humorous, crazy-pants creativity.

But without even going there just yet, please do click on the above screenshot image, and check out Berengere's web site* yourself to immerse your eyeballs and brain in her work. (I am willing to bet it'll get to your heart and your funny bone, too!)

*The site is in Flash, so if you are on a non-flash-viewable device, check out her work here through google images instead.

See you next week for Owllkids Book Week, starting Monday!

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What am I reading now? Seal Song by Andrea Spalding & Pascal Milelli
 

Back to school. Three words that every child dreads to hear. However, that’s exactly what children and teens across Canada did last week. They headed back with sharpened pencils, pristine erasers and colourful pens. But not every child around the world is so fortunate.

Owlkids, home of Chirp, chickaDEE and OWL, plans to change that. They have partnered with UNICEF Canada to purchase 630 school-in-a-box kits for children in need. The campaign called Changing Lives Through Education aims to “bring a sense of normalcy back to a child’s life” during a crisis.

Each school-in-a-box “enables a teacher and 80 children to get back to class — with a blackboard, teaching posters, exercise books and more.” To date, Owlkids and UNICEF Canada have raised $750.00. With no fixed minimum, patrons are free to donate as much as they can afford.

The time has come to make a difference. So, dear readers, step right up.

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Here’s something I did for the May 2011 issue of Chirp magazine. It’s obviously the Taj Mahal. It’s interesting how much you learn about something when you have to draw it. A larger version can be seen if you click on the image.

And I’ve included some close-ups, below. Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun…fun.

 

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Well, hey! It’s mid-week and I have some samples that came in the mail today that I’d like to share. I received the November 2010 issue of Chirp magazine, which has a spread I did entitled “Carnival in Germany” (I blogged a little about it here.) This was a booger of a job, I gotta say, never-the-less fun! There were just so many elements that had to be incorporated, such as animals and people that needed rescuing, and the people and vehicles that would rescue them. And this being set in a real place, I was asked to incorporate a few architectural details that were in the waterfront carnival area in Cologne, Germany (in this case, a cathedral and bridge). I did a lot of fudging all-around, as there was just no real way to depict Cologne’s waterfront as it really looks in the space allotted. So perspective is skewed here and there, the bridge is changed up (so people, etc. can be seen on it), foliage and trees eliminated, etc. Below is the finished, final spread, scanned from the magazine. A larger version can be seen if you click on it.

Since some visitors here like to see the work behind the work, I included the spread (below) I received from the art director with some direction, but primarily showing where copy, etc. would be, along with an idea of how they envisioned the spread looking.

Below: I initially tried to stay pretty true to the initial layout, but there just simply wasn’t enough area to include the many items I needed to incorporate. I didn’t waste a whole lot of time with this and moved on to a different perspective.

Which is below. I took it more birds-eye and skewed the streets, etc., so I could use some streets in the back as well as side streets for things. After this was approved, I tightened up this rough and made sure I pretty much knew what was going where. This wasn’t one that I could just let develop without some thinking about it first. The final piece is pretty close to the tight rough.

And now I’m happy to say I’m finishing up a fun winter spread for Chirp! I believe it will be in the

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Taking a little break from the fun of cartooning, I wanted to post a sample of a magazine spread I did recently that arrived in the mail this week. Chirp magazine is put out by the Canada-based OwlKids. They are a great client to work for and I’ve enjoyed all the projects they’ve contracted me [...]

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