Illustration Friday - breezy

This was a painting I did when I thought it would be fun to sell work in a gallery...then I realized that finding a gallery that wanted my work was going to be tough...and I would have to frame everything on my dime...and then there's shipping...and wearing an earing...and pretending to be be tortured ...and I would have to eat peyote ...plus I couldn't think of anything else I really wanted to paint...then I was glad I had an illustration career...and I took a nap.

Amazingly Creative

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

A friend sent this to me and it is sooo fresh I felt I needed to pass it on.
Check it out.

BYU Demo finished

This is the finish - it was a lot of fun working on it and talking to students. I was happy that they thought it was funny...or at least didn't beat me up for poking fun. I worked on it in class for about 4 hours and spent an additional 2 at home putting a few finishing touches on it.



This is the digital stage where my main concern is getting everything no lighter than about 50% value. Using photoshop I spent about 20 minutes laying in shadows and color and then printed it on watercolor paper - then I stipple a layer of acrylic gel medium over the print and it's ready to start painting.

BYU Demo

I was asked by Greg Newbold to do a demo in his illustration classes monday the 23rd...so I racked my brain to come up with something that would be fun but non-offensive to the students. I really like this sketch and I'm going to paint it but I'm concerned that student's might not like that I've decided to portray a BYU alumni overweight. :) Check back next week - I'll post the finish.

All my BoOks!

I made an image of all the books I've done so I can show it during presentations. I'm hoping to be able to fill in all the black spaces over time.

Illustration Friday - Celebrate

Here's an image I did for Harcourt last year - lots of fun trying to fit all the animals they wanted in.

Illustration Friday- Time

I'm pulling this from the dark corners of my archive - just want to be part of the I.F. party :)

L.A. Trip (CTA)

So here are some pictures from my trip to Los Angeles where I got to sign "Read Across America" posters for the CTA. As I mentioned a few months ago I was chosen to be their illustrator for a few years. I was also able to take my boys and we enjoyed a warm weekend sans snow.


The conference was held in the Bonaventure hotel - where they filmed part of the chase scene in "True Lies" - the first five levels was mall style shopping.


Then it was time for me to sign posters for the teachers to take back to their schools. My hand told me he signed about 800 but I told him to stop complaining.


Rick and Ryan Zeeb wrote a great book - "Snowpeople" and they sold over 550 copies - behind them is Sheri - the brains behind it all - Diana in front of me the "barker" -and then there's me with that really stupid look on my face - I think that was before I fainted.


My kids had to entertain themselves while I was doin my thang - They didn't get into too much trouble - although they got "told" to leave the 35th floor - only L.A. Prime guests allowed!


On the way home we snaped a few picts at some abandoned roadside dives - and drove into a snowstorm around Beaver - welcome back.

BYU Writing and Illustrating For Young Readers Workshop

Here is a link to the BYU Writers and Illustrators Conference coming up in June. I was fortunate enough to be asked to teach again this year and they used some art from my new gator book for the promotion. If you're thinking about or planning to write and/or illustrate for children's books this conference is great! The list of published authors and illustrators who have attended this conference continues to grow each year.