Snowman Series #14 of 50

Snowman Series #13 of 50

I've only done Black Friday shopping once, and I felt a lot like this snowman.

Snowman Series #12 of 50

Wishing you all a healthy, happy Thanksgiving!

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Dedicated to my friend Lisa Carrier. Every year for several years, we have an ongoing debate over that classic American side dish: Green Bean Casserole. She is con, and I am pro.

Snowman Series #10 of 50

From an idea by my friend, Jim Kocher.

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Christmas Card 2009

On a website I visit, we're doing a Christmas card exchange. 21 people, all creating their own unique design. Fun idea! This is my contribution, looking forward to seeing what everyone else came up with.

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Three Snowmen In Waiting...

For some reason, I am not able to upload images this evening. I'll try again later. How I hate tech problems ...

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Snowman Series #1 of 50

First in a daily series of 50 snowmen.

10 Years!

It was 10 years ago this month that I got a call from Vicki Whiting about Kid Scoop, a newspaper activity page for children. Would I be interested in illustrating the page? I was thrilled to give it a try. The "Hawaii" page above was done in November 1999. Little did I know at the time how that call would change my career path for the better. After 10 years, it's still as much fun as it was back then. And we're just getting started!

Count to 10 -- Four Times!

Every so often something new and fresh and innovative comes along that changes everything. Sesame Street was like that. Even though I was a few years north of the intended audience, I loved the sense of humor and the creative animated segments. So, using the excuse that I "had to" watch it because of my little brother, watch it I did.

Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street!

Marley & Me

Back in 1970, my aunt took me to see the musical version of A Christmas Carol called Scrooge with Albert Finney. Somehow I'd made it through my first eight years never hearing the original classic tale, so seeing it on the big screen was stunning. I was so excited I wrote a long review of it that week in school.

Alec Guiness played Jacob Marley in the film, several years before becoming Obi Wan Kenobi. If you've never seen it, you're missing a real holiday gem. For me, he'll always be the Jacob Marley to beat.

Christmas + ghosts = Total coolness. A few years ago, we did a Kid Scoop page about A Christmas Carol, and this illustration was my version of Jacob "Dead as a doornail" Marley as he warns Ebenezer to stop acting like a Bernie Madoff before it's too late.

Bear Facts

Whenever I have an illustration that involves toys, I tend to work in some variation of this little stuffed bear. It's based on the little bear I bought the day we found out my wife, Terri was pregnant with our daughter Hayley. I got the call at work and at lunch, headed over to the local Toys-R-Us. I found this little bear -- a "Nosy Bear" that had a clear plastic, snow-globe sort of snout. You squeezed its tummy and airflow would make a little windmill in the nose turn. The one I got had a red balloon inside, so when you squeeze the bear, the nose turns red.

Hayley still has the little bear. And he makes cameo appearances on Kid Scoop and other places. The one shown here was on our Toys for Tots page last December.

Let's Hear It for the Troops!

It's Veterans Day this week. This illustration is from this week's Kid Scoop page.

Hair-raising Puzzle

Here's a recent puzzle I did for Kid Scoop (http://www.kidscoop.com) on a page all about hair. Can you find the two look-alike Harriets?

All the World's a Stage

I've created a few posters lately for Playhouse Merced (http://www.playhousemerced.com). Here's one for Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka. This project was great fun – the story has always been one of my favorites. The image of Augustus Gloop stuck in the pipe seemed like a good way to say "factory" and "chocolate" and "danger" to instantly communicate what this story is all about. And I could have gone on happily adding crazy pipes and gauges and things for weeks to come. The bubbles in in the title text mirror the bubbles in the chocolate tube, but I was thinking "Fizzy Lifting Drinks" when I added them.Post Options