ALMOST DONE!

Part of the Final Page of this story. Well, not last in the story, but last that I have to finish. I've been going out of order, obviously. I have been moving my efforts now on perfecting my cover letter and fine tuning a list of agents and publishers to send this all to!

Children's Theater!

Right now I'm working on some stuff for a children's theater in Maryland. They want their play programs to be kid-friendly so they asked me to convert some drawings into vector black and white outlines like a coloring book. It's kind of fun to be working with some of these old favorites! More to come.

Europalooza 2009

Wow, it's been awhile. That's because I've been away for a few weeks now: I went on a much-anticipated backpacking trip with my sister through Europe. I have been wanting to do a backpacking trip for a few years but things kept falling through, but things finally fell in place this year and before either of us knew it we were whisked to far-off places on low-budget planes!

We first stopped in Dublin, Ireland where we visited the Guinness Brewery and visited local pubs with traditional musicians playing (I wanted to see the Book of Kells but kept missing the tours--oh well, guess I'll have to go back!) and took an evening trip to Howth, a beautiful marina outside the city.

Then we hopped a Ryanair flight to Paris--a lifelong dream for me (well, minus Ryanair). We climbed the stairs--yes the stairs--up the Eiffel Tower, visited the gardens of Versailles, and I finally got to see the Mona Lisa herself at the Louvre. I even got to taste one of my most favorite foods, escargots, in their home country (they're better there!).

Then on to Amsterdam, where I visited the Rijksmuseum (a great experience since I am a fan of Dutch painting). We took a beautiful bicycle ride through the countryside past windmills, canals and bucolic cow pastures. The night life there was something to remember as well.

After that came my (unexpectedly) favorite city of the trip: Berlin, Germany. What a unique city! So gritty and deconstructed, yet so vibrant and youthful! Everywhere we turned there was a building covered in awesome graffiti and street art. We visited a beer garden in a warehouse district that had two floors of clubs where everyone danced. The Berlin Wall too was unexpected in its artistic weight: each section had a mural painted on it by artists all over the world depicting their thoughts on the Wall and its history and future.

Finally, Prague, which was indeed fairytale-like in its architecture. The castle was very pretty and the buildings could give you hours' worth of photo-taking and scrutinizing with their ornate details and decorations. We visited the Alfons Mucha museum too, which was cool to see as an illustrator. The last day we spent in a little town about 1/2 hour away called Kutna Hora, where there is something called the Sedlec Ossuary--essentially a small church filled with the bones of 40,000 people, arranged in various ways such as garlands, crypts, and chandeliers. It was one of my favorite stops on the trip, very weird place (top picture).

I was sad to leave but now that I'm back I'm ready more than ever to get started on some new projects and finally see through to the end the old. I will be sending my children's book to some publishers and beginning the first stages of my next book, a modern fairy tale. I will also be stepping up my game in applying for some full-time jobs in the arts.

Stay tuned for more art, coming soon!

Why Hello There

So here's the mural in the kitchen at the Powhatan Community Center in Richmond, Virginia. Some college interns and kids from the center did the actual painting. Yours truly designed the whole thing though (and then came in for free pizza at the end). It was fun! Hopefully I get to be involved with more murals in the future.

Mmm...Cake Castle

Here's a sketch for the mural I'm painting next week. It's going in a community center's kitchen. A lot of baking happens in said kitchen, so I went with a baked-goods fantasy/surreal kind of image. I hope it's not too young-looking for the kids who use this room -- 5th thru 8th graders--but I just don't know what those darned kids are into anymore these days.

Murals: Quite a Different Experience for an Illustrator!

I haven't written in a few days so here's some words.
I went to Richmond this weekend. It felt so good to be back, like I was back home. My friends and me did all the things I wanted to: went to some of my favorite Fan bars, jogged through Byrd Park, visited the stores in Carytown, and attended a street festival. There was even time for some good old R & R in between.

I can't wait til I go back on the 26th, when I'll be volunteering my design for a mural to go up in (I think) a health club or gym. I've only done one mural before, which was a realistically-styled Colorado mountain in a classroom. Unfortunately, that was only made about 4 years ago and the school is now being torn down as the school's attendance (well really the Brandywine School District's demographics) has brought the need for the numbers of schools in the district down. I had so much fun making that mural, though. It'll be nice to get to experience that again. (I'll post pics when I find them, they're around here somewhere).

Wow This Took Forever

But it was worth it. Page 16 (I think) of Lizzie and the Fox (I'd love to think of a more interesting title still!) Ended up going digital for the trees' bark. That would've used up an unnecessary amount of Microns. Plus, gotta love copy & paste.