neiko!

This summer, I had the opportunity to make a new friend. Originally from Macau, Neiko Ng is a student at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. I met her while she was interning here in Cleveland over the summer. An amazing talent with a wonderfully charming style, Neiko was always making me laugh with her sly sense of humor. She's back in San Fran now starting her last year and I miss her already.

One morning, she saw me doodling during a meeting, and asked me if she could make a copy of a lion I had just scribbled in my sketchbook. The result was this fantastic little cut paper lion she made and gave to me before she left. I've posted it here, along with a few other pieces I snatched from her blog. Make sure you check out her stuff on her blog and website.

Good luck Neiko-I'm sure you will do very well after graduation!

imperfect

This is a piece I did this for an issue of Today's Parent a few months back but since it fits the Illustration Friday topic nicely, I thought I'd link it up. The article provides tips for talking to your kids about their report cards. I really enjoy illustrating these articles. The art director, Nicole Chung, is such a pleasure to work with, plus I always seem to learn something along the way!

sleeping pups

I've curled up and fallen asleep in in my womb chair many times, but not quite in this position!
This piece is something I did for a project that never went anywhere so I thought I'd share it.
Hope everyone's having a great weekend.

worried daddy

Hi everybody! Hope everyone's having a great summer so far. I'm hoping to wrap up all my big projects by mid July, and hopefully things will return to a normal pace. I can't wait to share some of these new pieces I've been working on, but unfortunately I can't just yet.

Anyway, here's a piece I did a while back for Today's Parent magazine. The article discusses the extremes some new parents go to to make sure their baby is safe while they sleep, including spending the night on a mattress next to the crib.

soaked

I'm still buried under a pile of projects, but there's finally light at the end of the tunnel. I can't wait to get back to visiting all my favorite blogs to see what you've all been up to. Until then, here's another little piece I did recently. It's pretty fitting, since it's done nothing but rain all spring, and I think we're all feeling a bit soaked. Bring on the sunshine!

kids birthday cards

Hey everybody! I know my posts have been a bit scarce these days, but i've been super busy working on some really fun projects.
Not that I'm complaining-it's good to be busy. I can't show any of them yet, but I will post them when I can.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few kid's birthday cards I did recently. I'm really happy with the way they turned out-I wanted to keep them simple and fun, with a limited color pallet. I had a lot of fun with these. They're available now at a Target store near you!

jungle pals

I just started playing around with a new photoshop brush this week, and what started as a doodle evolved into this. I rarely use brushes in photoshop but I think I'm going to to mess around with them a little more. I like the spontaneity and unlike a real brush, there's always that 'command z' to fall back on.

swarm

I have a million other things I should be doing, but this popped into my head when I saw the Illustration Friday word was 'swarm'...sorry, I just can't resist a bad pun.

big bad book of crosswords

I was thrilled to get the opportunity to illustrate the cover of the latest New York Times crossword puzzle book for St. Martin's Press. I illustrated the wolf, and the publishing company added the type and did a few color changes. Of course I totally obsessed over this one-I probably did about 50 sketches of different wolf characters before I finally settled on this guy. Now all I need is 49 more jobs with a reclining wolf, and I'd be all set.

catered cafe

Here's my latest illustration for Today's Parent magazine. The article is about parents actually hiring a caterer to feed their kids healthy, nutritious and trendy lunches in the school cafeteria. I don't know, I kinda liked those pizza burgers and tater tots I grew up eating in my grade school cafeteria.

my friend, corey 1976-2010

This picture was taken in front of a painting at

the Carnegie Mellon museum in Pittsburgh.

man in hat

monotype

south 47

monotype

I'm sorry to have to start my new year's blog on such a low note. I am so sad to say that my good friend, Corey Parker passed away on December 30th, after a year and a half battle with cancer. Corey was a fantastic artist with a great sense of humor. He was a very genuine person, with no pretenses. Corey loved to pull pranks, and always kept a positive attitude, right up until the very end. I will miss him very much.

Check out more of his work here.

christmas wrap

When I designed this wrapping paper for Target, I wanted to give it a retro feel, but use a more non-traditional color scheme. I'm really happy with the final product. Check it out, it's currently available at a Target store near you. Happy holidays, everyone!

prehistoric puzzle

I recently did this 42 piece dinosaur puzzle for Mudpuppy. I had a blast doing this one-I don't know when it will be available but I can't wait to get one, although I probably won't be able to put it together.

something for cat

Something for Cat

silkscreen

This is a silkscreen I just did for my latest gallery show in Cleveland. The show was a huge amount of work, but well worth the effort. Among the animal silkscreens I did is this cat who just got done savoring a tasty seafood morsel. I did an edition of twenty of this one.

10 minute tidy

Here's the latest illustration I did for the upcoming December issue of Today's Parent magazine. The article points out tips on quickly tidying up when unexpected guests announce that they're about to drop by for a visit. Personally, I would just shove everything under the couch...or just not answer the door.

circus silkscreens

Sorry I haven't been posting a whole lot lately but I've been super busy. I've been working on some pretty cool things, and hopefully I'll be able to post them in the near future.

Anyway,I did these silkscreens a while back for a gallery show I had here in Cleveland. I tried to capture the feeling of the illustrations I loved so much as a kid-keeping the colors a little more muted and dark. Mixing ink for silkscreening is still kind of a guessing game for me. The colors always darken considerably when dry, so I never know exactly how it will look until the last color is applied.

The lion and the zebra were done in editions of thirty, and I made twenty of the larger circus tents. There are still some available.

tea party

Once she sat down , Gloria the hippo knew it would be a long tea party... mostly because it was going to be hard to move out of that chair.

Another piece I did for Today's Parent magazine-the article discusses the pros and cons of kids having imaginary friends. C'mon, who wouldn't want a hippo named Gloria to hang out with?

caged

I did this for a job a while back. The eagle is supposed to represent freedom of speech in the United States, and the cage represents the repression of that freedom. It fits this week's Illustration Friday word, so I figured I'd post it since I'm too lazy to do something new.

pet giraffe

Had Timmy known he was going to share with his tall friend, he would have made it a double dip...

I did a few sketches for a project I was working on, but this image didn't make the cut. I got ambitious and decided to go ahead and finish it up anyway.

swinging kid's party

I recently did this piece for the August issue of Today's Parent magazine. The article is about how to keep your kid from misbehaving when they are a guest at someone's house and you're not there to keep them in line.

I know I've done this at a few parties, but not until I became an adult...

gentleman skunk

He may not be the best smelling guy in the woods, but he certainly makes up for it with his charm.

early lady day

Being a big fan of many of the early female jazz singers, I thought it would be fun to do an illustration of Billie Holiday. I tried to keep things simple and graphic, yet still capture the feeling of what it must have been like to see her perform in a small smoky club in the 30's and 40's.

dinos

You'd have to be pretty fearless to walk among this bloodthirsty group...

well, maybe not.

flying kids

This past weekend, I realized that it's been a whole year since I started my blog. I wanted to do a special illustration to tie in with this momentous occasion, but I've been really busy with other things. So instead, I figured I'd post one of my recent jobs.

This is a piece I did for the May issue of Today's Parent magazine. The title of the article is "Systems Are Go", and it's about choosing the right gaming system for your family. I really had fun with this one.

It's been a great year in Blogland, and I just want to thank everyone for all your kind comments over the past year. I had no idea when I first started, that I would be able to share ideas and encouragement with so many amazingly talented people from all over the world. I've made so many cyberpals who consistently blow me away and inspire me with their incredible work- boy, this newfangled interweb thing is really something.

cooked veggies

A while back, I was asked to help out with a possible revamp of a local restaurant's logo and mascot characters. Tommy's, located in Coventry Village in Cleveland Heights, is a great place- serving mainly vegetarian fare and killer shakes. (Their coffee yogurt shakes are awesome!)

Unfortunately, the revamp never really got off the ground, but it was fun trying. Here are a few concepts and rough sketches I did for them. I hope you guys like 'em.

retro cocktail hour

I did this a couple of months ago for a blog called "They Draw and Cook", an idea cooked up by artist pal, Salli. The original idea was to illustrate a recipe or something food related. I decided to go the cocktail route-I thought that with all those exotic names, they would be really fun to illustrate. While researching cocktails, I quickly realized there were far too many to fit on one page, so I have a feeling I'll be back with a few more of these.
I haven't tried any of these yet but truthfully, most of them probably sound a lot better than they taste.

Anyway, check out "They Draw and Cook" here and start working on your own recipe to contribute!