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Category Archives: Characters

Painting of a Young Jedi

Painting of a Young Jedi

Over the past few months, I’ve been pushing myself to continue learning. Most recently I was motivated by the exercises in the class on painting that I teach. During the demo’s and in the studio I tried a few new materials, such as the Strathmore 4ply 500 series vellum board, and gouache. This painting wasContinue Reading

Visiting with Friends

Visiting with Friends

Summary: Nameless Toads Playing Cards, Clandestine Notes, and Surprises! And so it was, that on a bright afternoon friend and fellow Foolscap Press owner Larry VanVelzer stopped by the studio to ask me to create a watercolor as a surprise birthday present for his wife and partner Peggy Gotthold. Without hesitation we set about crafting ourContinue Reading

Baron Von Münchhausen

Baron Von Münchhausen

Summary: A late night internet expedition leads to Doré, Terri Gilliam, absurd romanticism, and results in an illustration of Baron Von Münchhausen.   It was a dark and stormy night. Well, it was dark at least, and I was doing some late night internet ramblings into The Public Domain Review website which a friend had turned me on to. TheContinue Reading

The Devil Gets His Brew

The Devil Gets His Brew

Summary: A brief discussion of diabolical draftsmanship and details discovered during the creation of this devilish illustration.  Ok, truth time. I listen to the Grateful Dead… a lot. I know a lot of you might be stunned, but I feel like I just need to come clean on this one. Anyway… this project starts with the Grateful Dead song, “FriendContinue Reading

Slappy the Squirrel

Slappy the Squirrel

At the end of August, I began to make regular sketches of a character I’d thought of long ago. Slappy the Squirrel was first conceived of maybe 5 years ago amongst a whirlwind of story ideas I was dreaming up. Recently Slappy popped up again during the SCBWI’s LA conference Illustrators Intensive. After graduating in July,Continue Reading

Ahab & The White Whale

Ahab & The White Whale

Over the last few months I have been listening to the unabridged Blackstone Audio of Moby Dick. Along the way the story has seeped into my thoughts and drawings. I present to you some work that I made along the way. As it turns out, I am a little obsessed with illustrating stories. Hmm, perhaps there aContinue Reading


The Un-taping of Bo Diddley