whoop dee do

End Pages

2011-07-31T12:15:00.000-07:00

End pages are one of my favorite parts of creating a book. I think of them as a punctuation mark. They bracket a story, much like the frame of a painting. They aren't exactly part of the story, but can help you read it. I have often designed an image that shows the cast of the book. Sometimes it's just motif, but I always look forward to creating them. I create them last and it becomes a visual farewell.

Nothing Like A Puffin.
The Little Dump Truck
Astroblast, Moonstone Mystery
Astroblast, Code Blue

Friction

2011-07-31T07:01:00.001-07:00

Every life's got a little.

3D

2011-07-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to learn how to use 3D software. It's hard, but cool.

Does anyone remember "My Three Sons"?

2011-07-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Ideas come from all over. I don't know why but when I was making this book I had the animated intro to an old TV show called "My Three Sons" running through my head. (sorry, most of you have never seen it I'm sure) It showed the legs and feet of three men tapping their wingtip shoes to the music. The sketchy memory I have of it inspired this part of Puffin.

Puffin

2011-07-30T14:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some images from Nothing Like a Puffin. I have been really inspired by some of the mid-century kid book artists like Abner Graboff. I wanted that kind of simplicity and boldness in this book. I even gave a little off-register look to mimic some of the hand separated quality of books from that time period.

New this fall

2011-07-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

Nothing Like a Puffin will be coming out this fall. It's written by Sue Soltis. It's kind of an existential little story about how there is nothing exactly like a puffin however almost anything can be in some way, be like a puffin. I loved it the first time I read the manuscript, but it I really had to live with it a while before I knew how I was going to illustrate it.

New Block Puzzle

2011-07-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

I've done some things with Mudpuppy recently, mostly puzzles. They are nice to work with and I like the quality of the product.

This is one of those block puzzles with six different images to make.

Big Kicks Kosher

2011-07-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

Big Kicks has been published in Israel. The book was printed to read from right to left or backwards, well backwards to me. Made perfect sense to kids in Israel, I guess. I always love seeing my work in other languages.

My favorite pages

2011-07-30T13:10:00.001-07:00

Every book has a few spreads that become personal favorites. It's usually based on some personal creative conquest that only you really understand.

In this spread, I had to include every letter, all their props and supporting cast, put them in the right left to right order so the text works and try to extend a dozen sub-plots.

Some stuff I like from H is for Halloween

2011-07-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

H is for Halloween was a lot of fun to do. It was as if I had a big head start in working on the book. I think I spent most of my childhood watching monster movies and drawing the early versions of all the beasts and beings that appear in the book.I wasn't sure what an "IMP" was exactly, but everyone seemed to like this guy.

Alpha-Oops fun size

2011-07-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

Alpha-Oops, H is for Halloween is coming out again this year in a new mini version. I think I like it better in the fun size, cheaper too.

Square Stories

2011-07-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while something comes by that is really odd. I mean that in a good way. There are these series of simple stories from Danish author Louis Jensen. Maybe it something to do with translation but they are really quirky and sometimes odd, but I really love them. I've done these samples in hopes of getting a publisher to bite.

The Boot

2011-07-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

I recently had the honor of helping out with the Young Author Contest sponsored by the uber-cool kid's book store The Reading Reptile. The contest is judged by a group of local kid's book creators who pick a winning story and do an illustration to go along with it. My winner was an epic viking saga about a very tough dude who wrecks havoc with with a big metal boot.

But wait, there's more

2010-09-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

The Astroblast saga is continuing. Coming soon...

Yahoo!

2010-09-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Astroblast as been selected to be part of the Original Art show at the Society of Illustrators. It's a very cool honor and I'll get to go to New York for a couple days of fun in October.

Samples

2010-06-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of other sample images. These were done as part of the pre-work for this series, part of romancing the idea to Scholastic. Having pictures to go along with a story idea seems to work best for me.

Astroblast Sketches

2010-06-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some examples of sketch and finish. It seems that lately I do most all of my work directly on the computer. I think in shape and color and the computer lets me go there directly. I’ll sketch a lot before I start a book, to find the characters, their shapes and sizes. Once I start a book, though, the computer lets me quickly layout the whole story and see how the action progresses from scene to scene.

Here's the Astroblast crew

2010-05-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

Radar - the communications officer

Apollo - the scientist

Jet - the geologist

Halley - the explorer

Sputnik - fix-it girl and junk specialist

At first there were a couple of extra crew members, but the power of editing and the confines of and early reader plot line.

Astroblast activity fun

2010-05-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

The Astroblast series has extra fun built into the spreads. Things like mazes, find the mistakes and a lot of hidden picture stuff.

Everyone wants a logo

2010-05-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

I've done a lot of freebies for friends and church. I really don't mind it when I have the time. Clients are usually very easy to work with when they aren't paying you.

This one got me a couple of free haircuts.

A high school project

2010-05-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

My daughter Olivia wrote a short story for a FACS project. She asked me to illustrate it for her. When you create children's books, your work is very heroic in the eyes of young kids, as they grow up the novelty kind of wears off. I was happy still to be useful.

Alpha-Oops! H is for Halloween

2010-05-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

There is something really emotional about getting that first copy of a new book. I find myself both excited and nervous. The last month or so of working on a book seems to get very intense. A lot of time and thought. Then it just goes away for about six months. When finally, and often unannounced, it shows up on your doorstep in the form of an advance copy. It's one of the lucky ones that got to fly back while most of the books are still on a cargo boat somewhere. I will examine the cover, sniff the fresh ink and then set it aside. I need to get up the courage to open it up. I know that it's done. I can't change it anymore, this is it, this is what the kids will get. I need time to take off the creator hat. I try to forget all the struggles, the alternate versions, the second guessing and try to look at it new, like someone pulling it off a library shelf.

Biggie in paperback

2010-04-27T20:23:00.001-07:00

Just in time for the Wold Cup. Big Kicks is coming out in paperback.

The pitch

2010-03-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

To kickoff the work on the Astroblast series I met with my Scholastic editors and art director at the planetarium in the Natural History Museum in New York. After a lot of cosmic dreaming and an evening of good food I created the pitch for the series. These were images I created to countdown the idea.

The Astroblast Snack Shack

2010-01-31T17:42:00.001-08:00

The Astroblast books take place in and around the Astroblast Snack Shack, a fast food space station. The stories are the adventures of the Snack Shack crew; Radar, Apollo, Halley, Jet and Sputnik.

Astroblast is here

2010-01-24T19:41:00.001-08:00

I can finally talk about Astroblast. It is a new series of early readers I'm creating with Scholastic. It is about the crew of the Astroblast Snack Shack, and intergalactic fast food station. The first book, "Code Blue", will be coming out this spring. One of the fun things we are doing with the series is adding activities to each spread. They are hidden pictures, mazes, find the mistakes type of things. At the end of the book there is a list of additional "extra missions" of more things to find in the book. I got an advanced copy this week. The editorial and design teams at Scholastic did a great job helping me pull it together.

New Floor Puzzle

2010-01-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

Mudpuppy has just released a floor puzzle I designed for them. It's really well made. The pieces are big and chunky and the box is very cool. It's kind of a wacky history of cars.

Go Little Dump Truck

2010-01-24T08:10:00.000-08:00

The Little Dump Truck has been busy. The book was chosen as a Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best" for this year, Nick Jr. has named it one of the 10 best books for 2009 and it will soon be published in Japan. I love seeing foreign language editions of my books. There is something cool about kids in other parts of the world seeing your work.

A new logo for Candlewick?

2009-09-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

I designed a new logo for my publisher Candlewick Press. Of course they didn't ask for it and they'll never use it. It actually was a placeholder on a comp I did for the title page on the Big Kicks book. I've actually done quite a few logo and Tee shirt designs for friends and friends of friends. It's usually fun, often not used or used wrong, and never paid for. I'll post some of them soon.

I've been crabby

2009-09-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts. I've been pretty crabby with way too much work. I should be thankful.

Biggie news

2009-09-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

BIG KICKS is being published in France. "grandes coup-de-pied" ? (that doesn't sound right) It's also going to get a marketing boost to coincide with the World Cup. I'm glad it changed from a baseball story to a soccer story.

Not Books

2009-09-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

These are covers of Not Books, that is books that have never gone farther than a cover. Often when I come up with a book idea I start by making a cover sketch. I guess it's because that's your first impression of a book, It communicates a lot about the story. Maybe some day...

I love excavators

2009-03-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

There is something about excavators or as I called them when I was a kid "steam shovels". I know that all little boys love construction machinery, but I was obsessively fond of these guys.

Little Dump Truck variations

2009-03-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the variations I went through as I was developing the character. The top image shows the one I settled on and then the tweeking that I did based on the publisher's comments. They wanted him to look a little younger.

Hard Hat Pete

2009-03-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

I had to make sure that Hard Hat Pete, the story's lead person, didn't look like Builder Bob. He of course had to be wearing a Hard Hat.

Little Dump Truck sample

2009-03-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a sample from the opening of the book. I like the juxtaposition of the tow truck lifting the car and the worker lifting the lumber.

A few close ups

2009-03-20T20:21:00.001-07:00

My own little Dharma van

End pages

2009-03-20T20:13:00.001-07:00

I think one of my favorite parts of the book are the end pages.

New Book coming

2009-03-20T20:02:00.001-07:00

I have a new book coming out this fall called "The Little Dump Truck". It was written by Margery Cuyler and will be published by Henry Holt. I got the OK to share it, so I'm glad to get back into the blogging thing.

I hope I remember how to do this.

2009-03-10T21:40:00.001-07:00

Bob has been a bad blogger
Bob has been a bad blogger
Bob has been a bad blogger
Bob has been a bad blogger
Bob has been a bad blogger
I promise to try harder. Actually have been insanely busy. 2 books behind schedule and a real job. I'll be back soon. - bob

Turbo Dogs

2008-10-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

Seeing my name at the beginning of a TV show was pretty cool although I really didn't do anything but the original concept. Kristine Klohk and the production team at CCI Entertainment did an awesome job. I hope a lot of kids will have fun with the show.

Turbo Dogs premier weekend

2008-09-29T21:18:00.001-07:00

Check out an episode of "Turbo Dogs" this week-end.

Turbo's coming

2008-08-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

Choices choices

2008-08-09T17:38:00.000-07:00

The White House Book spread I did with all of the presidents had a vacant spot for the 44th one. I'm hoping to get my publisher to print up these stickers as a promo for the book.

Simon's Mixed Up book

2008-08-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

A little art I am doing for my friend Simon who wrote a book about sound mixing.

Get Flair

2008-08-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

I've been making Flair. It's a fun Facebook application. If you're on Facebook make some and send them to me. I've got some from books and some from that big company I work for.

Turbo Dogs

2008-08-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's coming! "Turbo Dogs", the newly named cartoon based on the too slow sounding book "Racer Dogs" will be premiering on October 3rd & 4th. It's a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and will be on NBC. It's looking pretty cool. They are giving me sneak peaks. I haven't seen it all put together yet (music, sound effects, finished 3-d effects) but so far it looks fun. More coming as permitted.

Upcoming show

2008-08-05T20:31:00.001-07:00

Well I'm going to be in an art show. First one since grad school. (25 years ago). It's at McGowan Fine Art in Concord, New Hampshire. It's a group show with other children's book artists. It will open on Sept. 9th. These are the prints I'm going to have in the show. Since I'm digital, I'm going to sell Giclée prints. They look real nice. I was pleased with the quality of the prints. They are pretty big, about 11 by 20. Anyone have a thought on about how much these things should go for?

end of story

2008-06-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

This is the back cover of Do You Want To Play, I think it may be my favorite image in the book.

do you still want to play

2008-06-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

Some more from Do You Want To Play. I just got these scans from my F&Gs and wanted to post them. It's been out of print for a while now and I figured this was the only way to let people see this stuff. I used a lot of tissue paper and papers drawn on with markers. It was a nice effect but time hasn't been kind to the original art. It's starting to disappear.

do you want to play

2008-06-03T20:36:00.001-07:00

These spreads are from an older book called Do You Want To Play. It is in a collage, all done the old-fashioned way of Exacto knives and matt medium. It's a style I would like to return to some day.

big kicks

2008-05-29T21:22:00.001-07:00

Biggie is a jazz lover, reluctant soccer player and a stamp collector. A famous old rare stamp plays a role in the story. A sheet of stamps were accidently printed with the central image upside-down. It is the rarest of American stamps. I had to update it a little to fit into Biggie's modern sensibilities.

Fun Day

2008-05-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

I got my first copy of "Big Kicks today. It's hard to describe fun of seeing a book for the first time.

biggie has cool stuff

2008-05-12T19:04:00.001-07:00

Biggie is a musician and has lots of instruments which are always fun to draw. He also has a mod sense of decorating.

more biggie

2008-05-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

here is another set of rough and finishes for Big Kicks. My editor suggested that I lose the TV. The book world is a little insecure about competition.

2008-04-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

here is a rough and a final from big kicks. I do all my early sketch work digitally. I seem to think in color and shape more than line and the computer lets me do it quickly.

for Gina

2008-04-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

All of the presidents are shown along with an interesting White House related fact. Nixon wanted to add a little more pomp to the White House security staff and had new uniforms made. They were too silly and were soon given to a marching band in Iowa.

some more white house stuff

2008-04-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more glimpses at the White House project I worked on. Candlewick, the very cool publisher of the book, has decided to use my spread as a poster promoting the book.

character sketches

2008-04-22T19:44:00.001-07:00

Here are some early sketches of Biggie. In the early drafts he was a small appliance repairperson.

baseball or soccer?

2008-04-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

Originally Biggie was about baseball. Baseball was more a part of my childhood, but soccer works better for the way the story plays out. After watching my kids play soccer for years I've come to really love the sport and wish I could have played it when I was a kid. Although I know that I'd be just about as good at soccer as I was at baseball. I'm a somewhat bigger guy. I was always picked early the first time we played a sport. The second time we played, I was always picked last.

Our White House

2008-04-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

Another book out this fall which I had a little part in. Our White House is a big group project for the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance. The cover says it was created renowned authors and illustrators. There are a lot of big time creators who contributed to the book. I think they let me in because I was the only one foolish enough to try and draw a portrait of every president.

Big Kicks

2008-04-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

This fall a new book called 'Big Kicks" will be coming out. It's a somewhat autobiographical tale about a big bear who has trouble living up to expectations.

beastie #21

2008-04-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'm back, been stupid busy lately. I've got so much coming up. A new book will be out this fall, another in the spring. (more about those later) Racerdogs is in production. The day job is busy. Blogging kept falling to the bottom of the priority list.

beastie #20

2008-02-16T19:02:00.001-08:00

beastie #19

2008-02-15T19:36:00.000-08:00

flora wants more beasties,flora gets what she wants.

beastie #18

2008-02-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

beastie #17

2008-02-12T04:55:00.000-08:00

Racerdogs, the TV show

2008-01-22T20:18:00.000-08:00

I got some very exciting news this week. A few years ago the multi-media rights of my book Racerdogs were optioned. I thought nothing would ever come of it, I was wrong. As it has turned out Racerdogs will be a TV show!!! It is scheduled to be on Saturday morning this fall. I'll share details as they happen. I'm just now being brought into the process.

Whoop-Dee-Do 2

2008-01-14T19:25:00.000-08:00

Sunny Side Up is in the kitchen of the Whoop-Dee-Do house. It's a bunch of breakfast foods who have trouble getting along. Milk is spoiled. Toast is always getting burned. Mr. Baconman is fun but bad for you. Waffles can't make up it's mind and cup needs to switch to decafe.

Whoop-Dee-Do

2008-01-14T19:14:00.001-08:00

There is a story behind the Whoop-Dee-Do title of my blog. It's a show concept that hasn't been pick up yet. I've worked with Chuck Gammage up in Toronto. He is a great guy and a very talented animation director. Every once in a while there is some interest in it.

doggy city

2007-12-21T06:51:00.000-08:00

I did this doggy city a while ago. I can't even remember what it was for. I think it was some kind of educational program thing.

these are a few of my favorite things

2007-12-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

cool gorilla uh?

hello freight train 2

2007-12-19T18:19:00.000-08:00

doing this book brought back a lot of memories at my train table. Although my train table always included army guys and a Godzilla model.

hello freight train

2007-12-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

Hello Freight Train was a design challenge. The text became a list of the car types and the layouts became very similar. I tried to add variety and subplot with the birds and poses of the characters.

fly

2007-12-18T19:03:00.001-08:00

here is the first and only art of an unwritten book. I've got an idea and a cover, that's how a lot of my books start out.

vinyl guy

2007-12-16T06:51:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine left work last week. As a good-bye gift, we all got these little urban vinyl blanks and customized them. It was a pretty cool collection. I'll try to get pictures of the other ones.

hello fire truck 2

2007-12-16T06:33:00.001-08:00

Concerned onlookers or curious disaster chasers?
Will Cat and Firedog have a future? Or will the pressures of cultural and species differences eventually tear them apart?
All's well that ends well, or so we think..

hello fire truck

2007-12-16T06:21:00.001-08:00

I think "Hello Fire Truck" is my personal favorite in the series. It is full of drama and intrigue.
What was Cat doing? Is any one left in the house?
Yellow Dog was first on the scene and reported the fire, umm, rather suspicious.
It even has a race scene.

L is for lion, and lazy

2007-12-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

I started this alphabet book and got distracted by things like work. I wanted to do a circus abc. Circus themes don't seem to be in favor now. I still like them.

my space

2007-12-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

someone asked, this is where I work. I wish it was by an ocean or a mountain, but it's a basement in a suburban Kansas City home.

beastie #16

2007-12-07T21:02:00.001-08:00

hello fire truck

2007-12-07T20:57:00.000-08:00

These are from Hello Fire Truck my favorite in the series.

hello series

2007-12-05T05:11:00.002-08:00

I did a little series of books that featured animated vehicles. As a kid I had this book called Tootles the Taxi which I've always loved and inspired me when I started the Hello series.

I know this is stupid

2007-11-30T21:37:00.000-08:00

I know this is stupid but I just upgraded to Leopard from Panther and I now have Photo Booth. Between this and Widgets I my not get anything done.

racerdogs goodnight

2007-11-30T21:24:00.000-08:00

here's the last thing about racerdogs, and some of my inspiration. That's my son Jonathan on the right.

racerdogs

2007-11-18T14:08:00.001-08:00

I grew up around car parts. My dad was a mechanic as was my grandpa. I had to include a scene where a car breaks down. It was fun to get to draw motor junk.
This was a little promo item I made for my publisher, editor, art director and agent as a thank you for helping me get the book out. I always have ideas and intentions of doing something fun with every book. Finding the time is hard.

racerdogs, the gas shack

2007-11-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

This is the "Gas Shack" which is right next to the "Snack Rack" in the Racerdog world.
This was the research. I actually had this model as a kid. Stella the neighbor lady gave us her son's old toys when ever he wasn't looking. This model was way out of scale for my train table, but it was free and cool. I found this picture on E-bay. I hope it's OK to show this picture, it wasn't mine, it was the seller's. Am I wrong for posting it?

racerdogs cover

2007-11-12T19:35:00.001-08:00

This is the very first art I created in the racerdog project. I hadn't written the story yet, I really didn't know what it was going to be about. I just knew I wanted to create a book about dogs who race. "Go Dog Go" is one of my favorite books. I remembered as a kid wanting more about those dogs going around fast in cars. This little sketch got me the contract.
Here is the final cover. I think I like the first sketch better.

racerdogs

2007-11-12T19:22:00.001-08:00

I'm going to share a little about an older book called Racerdogs. I would like to share about more current projects, but you can't until a project is on the shelf. So until my latest is out, I'm going to talk about old stuff.
People have been asking about how I work. here is a sketch, in progress and finish of a Racerdog spread.

party lizard

2007-11-04T21:33:00.001-08:00

These are from a little reader. A lizard has a party, everybody comes and makes a mess, he has to clean it up. As I sum it up I think it may be a lot more profound than I ever realized.

missouri countryside

2007-11-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

I drove down to Warrensberg Missouri to watch my son perform in a drumline/marching competition. It was a beautiful drive.

storyworks cover

2007-11-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

this was done for the cover of storyworks magazine. It's a nice little school magazine put out by Scholastic.

early work

2007-11-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

I thought I would show one of my earliest books. As of yet it is still unpublished.

the little professor

2007-10-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

alpha-oops stuff

2007-10-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

one of the graphic challenges was to somehow let the reader keep track of the messed up sequence. I created this little professor character who ran along the bottom of each spread adding the letters in the new messed up order. It became a favorite part of the book and created a little sub-text.

alpha-oops again

2007-10-28T21:15:00.001-07:00

things got really out of control when letters decided that they could stand for more than one thing. "V" was upset and wanted to go again. "Z" had to yank him off the stage.

alpha-oops all messed up

2007-10-25T17:52:00.000-07:00

...soon everything is messed up and every letter is going in any order they want.

alpha-oops continued

2007-10-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here are the first images of the alphabet in thier new reverse order. As you can see "P" didn't like the reverse order either and went out of turn. He figured he'd be in the middle no matter which way the alphabet went. I love rebels.

beastie #15

2007-10-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

monster mash 2007

2007-10-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

I sent this in to Monster Mash 2007. It's a collaborative gallery/contest that my good friend Flora made me enter. (I'd paste the link but I don't know how to do that yet) The image is out of the book "Alpha-Oops". M is for monster (and moon, mouse and mushrooms). I'm hoping to win a prize, which is to get someone besides my good friend Flora to look at this blog.