7-Imp

Mac Barnett and the good ladies at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast and I are all talking about Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem today. There's a ton of art over there, including two or three pieces that can't be seen on this blog.

But I'd be remiss if I didn't give you something to look at. This is quite possibly my favorite piece from the book. Click to enlarge.

Finally.

I haven't posted anything in over a month. I was moving from Philadelphia (my home of eight years), back to Tucson, AZ. We're still living out of boxes, but I feel like I can finally take the time to blog again. And wasn't Freedom to Blog one of those Rooseveltian freedoms that Norman Rockwell illustrated all those years ago? I'm pretty sure it was, so there's no need to write me any letters about it.

Anyway, I'm remiss in announcing that Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett is now available! I illustrated it! If you've been following my posts about it, you may remember that Billy's mother has been threatening to buy him a blue whale if he doesn't shape up.
One morning, Billy's sure he can feel something watching him:

Well, maybe Mom can buy him a whale, but there's no way Billy's bringing it to school.

The finished painting.  That's me, basically, as the Fedup delivery man in the foreground.

This is, once again, from my new book Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, written by Mac Barnett, available next month.

If They'd Gotten Two Whales There Would've Been Free Shipping.

A sketch from Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem by Mac Barnett, available next month.

Here's the finished painting of that sketch I showed last week from my next picture book, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, written by Mac Barnett.  You'll notice this image has a much wider composition–between the sketch dummy stage and the final painted stage the book got lengthened and rearranged somewhat, and this illustration needed to turn into a two-page spread.

For the illustrators out there, this was painted in Photoshop with a Wacom Intuos tablet.

Another Billy Twitters Preview

Preliminary sketch from Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, by Mac Barnett, in stores this June.  I'll show the finished painting soon.

Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem

Previously, I've shared a little bit of my forthcoming picture book, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem (written by Mac Barnett).  In the coming weeks I'm going to be showing a lot more, starting with this post.  First off, the cover again, this time with type in place:

Regular readers of this blog, and people who have seen me speak, already know that I like to use as much reference as possible for my illustrations, from photographs to...models:

Turns out it's really difficult to find good pictures of blue whales.  I guess they're to big to photograph.  There are a lot of good illustrations of them out there, and those were helpful, but what really helped me on this book was a nine-inch-long plastic blue whale toy.  I think you'll understand why when you see more illustrations from the book.

And, as I often do, I sculpted a little model of the titular character, Billy.  He's made out of Sculpey and painted with acrylics.

More soon.

Whale Finish

Here's the finished painting of that sketch I posted last week. You may notice that I fixed a few drawing issues in the final–I'd done a pretty lousy job blocking in some of the houses in the background, and I think I had several horizon lines in play. I'm sure there are plenty more drawing mistakes where those came from, but I fixed a few of them, at least.

This is Photoshop and Wacom. No traditional painting in this book, though I'll be back to traditional materials with the following one.
Here are a couple details, including a bunch of cats that weren't in the sketch, but which I added at the suggestion of a friend of mine. I think it was Cyril.

As usual, click for larger views.

And Now, a Whale on a Skateboard

Wow, apparently I wore out my welcome with the mustache updates. Got a couple of snarky comments on the last one. Perhaps I'll continue to quietly try to raise funds through the sidebar, and stop talking about mustaches and needy schoolkids so much.

You'll have to take my word for it that this whale is on a skateboard, I suppose, since you can't see it under him in this drawing. But this is the sketch of the cover of my next picture book, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, written by Mac Barnett. In a few days I'll post the finished painting.
As always, click to see it larger.

Sketchasaurus Rex

3 fellas I drew in my sketchbook today: