cartoon birds braid my hair in the morning

Sometimes I draw something and it's exactly what I wanted. It's like the image was projected directly from my brain onto the paper with no hands mucking it up in the process. This is one of those times. It's nothing big or spectacular; it only took about 20 or 30 minutes, and most of that was hatching. But I love it. It's probably my favorite thing I've drawn recently.

Ink and watercolor on cold-press illustration board; about 4'' x 5''.

synonyms for beauty

Recently we were required to submit a piece to an "open call" for pieces at school. The subject was : "What is beauty?" There's really no reasoning behind this. And I'm actually 100% happy with the figure. And I'm fine with the lettering on its own. But I think it's just ended up being distracting in the end. I didn't have time to re-do it, but I'd like to at some point for my own purposes. A simpler background would serve the image better, I think.

I'm very into hatching lately. I love it. Limited color, too, in the form of black and white wash with single color accents.

Ink and watercolor on cold-press illustration board; 10'' x 10''.

playbill spots: three little pigs, charlotte's web, and a halloween witch

The last of the theater project playbill illustrations. Finally.

fear of long words

Also known as "sesquipedalophobia." This particular phobia is definitely not one that I'm afflicted with, but it made for an amusing illustration.

Ink and watercolor on hot press paper.

playbill spots: rumpelstiltskin and school house rock

More from the theater poster project. This time it's Rumpelstiltskin. There was one version before this where he looked way too child molester-y, and also kind of like he was smoking a joint. What can I say? Dude is creepy.

Oh, School House Rock. How I love you. This one was kind of tough, because how do you reinvent the SHR characters but still communicate that it's SHR? I went with the conductor from Conjunction Junction, because he's pretty recognizable. I think so, anyway. Plus Conjunction Junction is awesome. Up with language skills!

And I'm happy to report that a few of these did, in fact, get chosen for use on promo material for the theater. I'll scan stuff whenever I get copies.

playbill spots: christopher robin and rudolph

More from the theater poster project. This is a spot illustration for use on the Winnie the Pooh playbill. Christopher Robin is kind of bow-legged, but whatevs.

And the spot for the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer playbill. Just a deer sporting a clown nose; not much else to say. Something about his jaw/nose region isn't working for me, but it's too late to quibble about that now.

playbill spots: the little mermaid and peter pan

Spot illustration for use on the Little Mermaid playbill. More from the theater poster project. Using an Ariel-esque mermaid was definitely a no-no; I think I distanced myself pretty well from the established image. The colors here aren't nearly as vibrant as they are in real life, which is unfortunate, but you get the idea.
Spot illustration for use on the Peter Pan playbill. Tinkerbell kind of looks like a golden snitch. Oh well.

playbill spots: dorothy and the emperor

Spot illustration for use on the Wizard of Oz playbill. Same project as the theater poster. We had to come up with our own versions of the characters rather than use the established ones, so that's why she doesn't look like a little Judy Garland.

Spot illustration for use on the Emperor's New Clothes playbill. My emperor has bunny slippers and his robe is like Wonder Woman's invisible plane. So what?