Starting my Sketchbook

Or Art Book or whatever. A book with a bunch of art. Some finished pieces, some doodles and rough sketches. Most of the stuff you see here are finished pieces, pin-ups and stuff. I'm in the process of collecting all the images and getting them into an InDesign document. Once I have it designed, I'll publish it through Lulu or some other print-on-demand site. My plan is to have it ready before Summer. There is an upcoming show I want to be able to sell it at. A show I haven't announced yet, just waiting for them to update their site and make it official. Anyway, I'm excited to be working on it bit by bit between freelance projects, can't wait to have it in my hands.

New book with my illustrations in stores now

The book that I worked on, "She's Crazy, He's a Liar-Now What: A Single Girl's Guide to Understanding the Sexes" by Cecily Knobler is in stores now. I have over 100 illustrations throughout the book. I think they commissioned 135 and wound up using 120. It was (obviously) a TON of work, but at least they were fun images to do. I think it came out really nice. I'm proud of it at least.
The official website.
Preview the book.

She's Crazy, He's a Liar - Now What?

The book that I worked on, She's Crazy, He's a Liar-Now What?: A Single Girl's Guide to Understanding the Sexes by Cecily Knobler will be out in a few weeks.

They put up a website for it.

You can also preview the book.

I'm a little disappointed that they redid the design of the cover. In my original design, the illustrations were bigger, but at least they are still using them. If you click through the preview pages, you can see a bunch of my stuff throughout.

Checking In

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted. I've been really busy wrapping up some book illustrations I've been working on. I did 135 illustrations for the interior of the book and designed the front cover as well. Since it's already solicited for pre-orders on Amazon, I guess I can go ahead and say what it is. It's called She's Crazy, He's a Liar-Now What?: A Single Girl's Guide to Understanding the Sexes by Cecily Knobler. And since that's all that's in the public eye right not, that's about all I can share. Once the book comes out and I'll post some of the other images I did. It was a lot of fun to do, but it was also a ton of work. I'm glad to be finishing it up and can't wait to see the finished product.

I've also worked on a few other things here and there but I can't post them until they come out too.

Some of the work I did for Tesar's Modern Steak & Seafood can be seen on a couple of online reviews for the restaurant.

Here...

First taste of Tesar's Modern Steak & Seafood

And here...

Brad's Adventure in Food: First Look: Tesar's, The Woodlands

I've made a collage of the images. Copyright their respective owners.

Lastly, I'm still working on my graphic novel, Spookytown. All the work I did on the book mentioned above slowed me down, but I'm ready to kick back into high gear. Look for updates soon.

Jeff: Okay, maybe the girl on the front of the book looks a little like Heather.

Book Recommendation

Willie & Joe: The WWII Years by Bill Mauldin. If you've never heard of him, you should definitely look him up. Especially if 1. You like illustration and 2. World War II stuff fascinates you. I fall squarely into both categories.

The book is published by Fantagraphics and it's a really nicely done 2 hardback, slipcase set. Here's a description from their website...

Here, for the first time, Fantagraphics Books brings together Mauldin's complete works from 1940 through the end of the war. This collection of over 600 cartoons, most never before reprinted, is more than the record of a great artist: it is an essential chronicle of America's citizen-soldiers from peace through war to victory.

Bill Mauldin knew war because he was in it. He had created his characters, Willie and Joe, at age 18, before Pearl Harbor, while training with the 45th Infantry Division and cartooning part-time for the camp newspaper. His brilliant send-ups of officers were pure infantry, and the men loved it.

I've had this on my Amazon Wishlist for a while now. A big thanks to my buddy Randy for giving me the heads up that this was available at Half Price Books this weekend, during their 20% off sale. $65.00 set, HFB price $20.00 and 20% off. Awesome, awesome deal. Now, if I can just get his biography for such a great price.

Other Book Covers

Some more book covers. They were done a while back, I just never got around t to posting the final products.

New Book Cover - 26 Short Screenplays

Just received my copy of book that I was hired to do the cover illustration on. It's called 26 Short Screenplays for Independent Filmmakers. It's a pretty concept. Here's the description from the website...

This book is a collection of screenplays released under the Creative Commons license. The purpose of this book is to help independent filmmakers develop a portfolio of short films.

Buy a copy today at http://www.26screenplays.com.

The Alternative Bride

Here's is a book cover that I illustrated and designed recently. The Alternative Bride's Guide to Wedding Games. Just got my copy, I like how it turned out. I also did the banner for the website, www.thealternativebride.com. The book description...

Kick your wedding into high gear with over 111 fabulous games for receptions, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, gift-opening brunches, and more! This book also includes 175 wedding trivia questions, 50 photocopiable pages of game cards and quizzes, plus dozens of bonus ideas and game variations so you can truly put a personal touch on your big day!

So, if you're a soon-to-be bride and are looking for some fun stuff to do, buy a copy right this second.

Available here on Amazon.com.

Book Cover Illustration

Here's a book cover I really illustrated for a guy. The book has 26 short screenplays for independent filmmakers. Check out his blog.

A couple of new images

Been a bit since I've posted anything, been busy with projects. Here are two images that I can post, the rest are under wraps.

Book Covers

Those two are separate book cover assignments I did recently. The one with the two girls in front of the mirror is for a book about teenage girls and self esteem. The other is for a fictional book, a romance novel.