2015 News...

Happy New Year!  I feel that I can still say that since it's only January 31. I haven't posted since October, which I think is one of the longest lulls I've ever had.  The truth is, I have been crazy busy, and things are amazing right now.  In a few weeks I'll have a ton of news about Fangbone!  I'm also working on the art for Icky Ricky 6, and the picture book I wrote about in the previous post.

I was going through my phone and deleting pictures that I no longer need, and I came across these 3 shots from a school visit.  I had eaten lunch with some kids, and then we drew on the table cloth.  Truthfully, I can't remember what school it was, but I had a lot of fun, and this kids seem to enjoy it as well.

I'll be posting often in the next few weeks.  Enjoy.

Fangbone! Pumpkin

I just got this excellent shot of a Fangbone! pumpkin from Tom Angleberger.  Yes, the same Tom Angleberger that is responsible for the very funny and hugely popular "Origami Yoda" series of books.  It seems that he's a pretty big fan of Fangbone!  Check out how the horns are made of pumpkin as well.  Look closely, and you can see there's a little carved skull on the top.

I've never net Tom, but we have chatted through e-mail a handful of times.  One of these days I hope to run into him in person. Thanks for taking the time to make this, Tom, and for sending along the picture.

Making a hot mess...

Right now, I'm working on the illustrations for my next series, “Icky Ricky” which comes out in 2013 from Random House.  For these books, I need lots of backgrounds that have sprays and drips and all kinds of messy looking bits of business.  I recruited my two sons, Declan and Gavin, who are good at making messes, to help me out with the process.  We used some traditional spray-paint, watered down acrylic, and even a bit of clean water to get things to drip.  We produced a pile of papers that I can scan and sample the best bits from. 

My favorite piece was created by laying down some rope on the paper, and my son Declan gently spray-painted over it, creating areas of different values and contrast.

Here’s one of the drawings from the book.  The background area uses parts of the rope painted paper.  The type for the word balloon will be added later.

I have a good job...

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a mother who said how much her son loved my book You Can Do Anything Daddy! He had found it in the library, but she wanted to get him his own copy. Sadly, it recently went out of print, and is no longer available. Anyway, I sent off a signed copy and today I received this photo. What a way to start the day.

Halloween 2011

My boys were zombies for Halloween this year. However, Halloween almost didn't happen. Half the town had no power (no doorbells or lights to see who's home), there were trees all over the streets and we had to navigate piles of snow and slush. We've only been in our new house in Leonia, NJ, for a week. For four of those days, we have had no power. The blackout ended this morning around 6:30 and we were happy to have heat and light again.

Don't you see it?

A few months ago I was at my doctor's office. After seing the doctor, I went to the bathroom before heading home. On the ceiling above the sink was this water stain. It looks just like a taco, right? Right?

Just to be fair...

Here's a nice picture of Gavin, my younger son. For no good reason at all.

Happy Graduation!

My son Declan graduated from Pre-School today. He'll be going to Kindergarten in September. We're proud of you, buddy!

Food Fun

Here's a face that was made at dinner by the boys with some help from me and mommy. Mixed media; asparagus, bottle caps, grapes, tortilla.

My boys like blocks...

So much for keeping this just about my work...We've been building block towers lately, and the boys were very proud of this one. In fact, it stayed up for two day, as opposed to the usual two hours. It was right in front of the couch, and made watching tv very difficult. Declan is on the left, he'll be five in October, and Gavin turned three in May.