October is here!!!

Holy Cow!! It's October already!?!?

Okay guys,

Can't say this has been easy, but I am nearing the end of the commission/requests... Since I only got 15 requests, I decided to release them every 2 days, starting on October 2nd. Here is the order of dates:

October:

2nd
4th
6th
8th
10th
12th
14th
16th
18th
20th
22nd
24th
26th
28th
30th
31st

And if that wasn't enough, I decided to not just do drawings...

but to PAINT them!..

Some would say I was crazy for doing that, some would say I was crazy to just ask for a $20 dollar donation to my school's art program (I do accept higher donations--hint hint!)... the ones finished so far have came out to work of anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours... to give you an idea of time spent.

The style differs from piece to piece, as well as the medium used. Hope you guys enjoy it, and make sure you stop by on the dates mentioned to see what is new. I will be contacting everyone who made requests individually, to arrange delivery.

...and PLEASE! Feel free to comment, or to just follow my blog.

Cheers! Joel

SCBWI-Houston Illustrator workshop

Today I attended a little workshop ran by SCBWI-Houston for illustrators, organized by illustrator Deandra Mae, where I learned quite a bit. Thanks Deandra! There was a ton of great info given out here, and if my camera hadn't died, I would have taken a lot more pictures. One thing I would absolutely LOVE would be for more of a community here in Houston between the illustrators in our group. Just being around other artists and talking shop makes me (little British girl accent) "ever so happy!"

Near the end of the meeting, we got to squeeze in a little of making a picture book dummy, which honestly was a lot more fun than I ever thought. Below are the beginnings of the layout of Harry the Dirty Dog....which I am sure I have read at some point in my life:

And sometimes, just being around creative people makes me really start "pump out the jams" .... This may be a really cool idea happening below. Just remember: You saw it here first. Obviously, can't talk too much about it, but it may be the book I prepare a dummy for the spring convention:

So my goals now are a little clearer:

1. Continue to work on pieces to boost portfolio, and streamline my work/style.
2. Create a dummy book
3. Design and get a promo card printed.
4. work on character design.

Artwork: Untitled

Currently working on a character design for a book I was thinking about writing. My main experience is in picture books, but this story would be a little bigger, like a beginner/chapter book...

Ok, I finished the blue character first, before I went on to the other one. I usually don't work this way, but I usually don't work this early (9 am). I usually am up til the am's finished a piece.... So I did half in the morning, and the other half at night:

I listened to an album I used to have in college: C'mon Feel the Lemonheads by The Lemonheads... Forgot how great of an album that was... almost 20 years ago. Wow. I am old.