This Week in the Sketchbook

A new drawing from church - a few Sundays back, just finished it.

... and a drawing of two esteemed fellow illustration professors at Wash U. Meetings are amazing!

Nobel Pursuits

This package was for the amazing magazine, Scientific American, about the Nobel Prize winners in Physics. I've worked with them several times and have loved the abstract challenge of the assignments, in this case, how to draw quantum mechanics and astrophysics! 

Instead of focusing on the non visual concepts like the Higgs Boson Particle and other phrases I'd only use to sound smarter than other dummies, I turned to the idea of discovery or uncovering the hidden. "Seeing" is an easier visual concept than quantum chromodynamics. 

Each section header got a half page banner to introduce the categories of discovery. 

For this project, I built a shallow relief diorama and tried to shoot it with a camera, but couldn't get enough sharpness and the color correction was tough. I ended up scanning these and adjusting... though I do like the deeper shadows on the one I photographed, below. Will keep fooling around with this and call Red Nose Studio for advice. 

The first attempt with a camera... 

Sea to Shining Sea...

David Saylor, from Scholastic, contacted me to be a part of a collaborative children's book that follows the song America the Beautiful. 15 artists were asked to do one spread, each given a stanza of the song along with a famous presidential quotation. 

My image is the closing to the book and the final stanza, ...from sea to shining sea. Also on the page is George H.W. Bush's famous quote This is America, a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.

Other artists in the book include Raul Colon, Mary GrandPre (of Harry Potter Fame) Jon J. Muth and many others. Really fun to be included in this round up. Won't be out till next year, but don't worry, I'll remind you to buy it in bulk when it comes out.

Detail of ladder kids...

...and Lady Liberty. 

My two sketches, using the imagery of seas and starry skies. 

Spot art of the Capitol Building

The final art in place on the page. 

Bad Unicorn Update

After some edits (the impaled squirrel is stuffed now) and final formatting, here is the full wrap of the BAD UNICORN book, without the flap copy/barcode on it yet. Can't wait to see the spot varnish on the cover! So happy with this. The full post is below.

Titanic Update

Final Cover Art

After a few edits, here is the final version of the Dangerous Waters cover. The author pointed out that the fourth smoke stack on the Titanic was entirely decorative! So, no smoke could have come out of it. So a little photoshop surgery was all it needed. Plus, they wanted the skull removed from the moon, too scary! Next stop, bookstores everywhere.

Previous Cover Art

7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast

The amazing kid lit blog 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast has a long profile on my work, go check it out here. A small sample of the kind of information you might learn there:

* * * The Pivot Questionnaire * * *

Jules: What is your favorite word?
John: Phonetically: “Sequoia” or “Ticonderoga.”
Conceptually: “Agape.”
Jules: What is your least favorite word?
John: “Moist.”
Jules: What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
John: I like sitting in churches during the daytime — to enjoy the stained glass windows.
Jules: What turns you off?
John: Left-over clear tape on glass and people who see everything through a political lens (of either party).
Jules: What is your favorite curse word? (optional)
John: I take the Fifth.
Jules: What sound or noise do you love?
John: Coins jingling in a pocket.
Jules: What sound or noise do you hate?
John: Fingernail-clipping while riding the subway.
Jules: What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
John: DRUMMER IN A WEEZER COVER BAND!
Jules: What profession would you not like to do?
John: Anything that would require me to get up before 7 a.m.
Jules: If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
John: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Drawing In Church- Belated Easter Edition

Just finished up my Easter drawing (on top of some xerox transfers I had done with my seniors in my sketchbook class the week before). I've never been able to get an Easter drawing I'm happy with. This one was fun.