Cricket Lullaby for Turtle Magazine

Pick up the current issue of Turtle Magazine and you'll see this piece I did on the back cover. It accompanies the poem Cricket Lullaby by Jacqueline Schiff.

The first sketch I did (see below) had the cricket in a suit and fedora a la Sinatra but that idea was nixed. I was sad to loose that touch, but I think it helped the image in the end because the suit would have diminished the effect the green has against the monochrome background.

In related news I'll be working on the puzzle pages for Jack & Jill (which is Turtle's sister magazine) for September through to the end of 2012. Be sure to check out the first installment which is a Halloween themed spread.

Burning Celebrities for Keep the Heat

Alex Negrete of Keep the Heat fame asked me to make a background with a bunch of celebrities heads screaming and yelling and caught up in fire. Needless to say I said yes.

You can see the complete full sized background here.

Chef Able's Fables

Believing in the importance of healthy food for kids is something that Chefables and I have in common. So when they asked me to participate in their book Chef Able's Fabels I was more than happy to help out.

Below are the two spreads that I worked on for the Take Out Philosophy story, plus my concept sketches.

The Old Ball Game

Since I'm a big baseball geek I was thrilled when I landed this assignment from Humpty Dumpty Magazine. I was also thrilled when they didn't seem to mind me referencing my team the Toronto Blue Jays, and about to strike out the Red Sox no less! I also decided to make the second baseman a boy version of new Hall-of-Famer Roberto Alomar.

This piece is featured on the back cover and accompanies the poem The Old Ball Game by Lorna Johnson. It's on shelves now so get yours today!

Spring Cleaning

I think I promised that this would drop last week, but it's been quite busy of late which is always a nice problem to have.

This was created for a postcard promotion that went out last month. Below is the bonus accompanying wallpaper. Click it to download the hi res image.

Masthead Spread for Turtle Magazine

Hey, if you check out the March/April issue of Turtle Magazine then you can see the above illustration featured on the masthead spread. It accompanies a poem by Suzanne Wenk.

Stripping for Spring

To celebrate the coming spring I created this and another piece which will be debuted here next week (check back soon!). After living in Edmonton for 4 years and then moving back to Ontario, spring seems so early now! Man I hate winter.

 

You can see from the original sketch below that I made a few adjustments to the final piece. I eliminated the naked winter tree and gave the snowman a scarf to help the visual flow from left to right which is really important in this piece. The scarf also helps tie in the gold colour throughout the entire image. The tree was a case where something looks good in a sketch but is obviously out of place once seen in colour.

As an added bonus, this piece has also been made into a handy desktop wallpaper that you can download in full size here.