Thursday, December 17, 2009

Ben Franklin... of course


Here's a tidbit of science history. It's widely believed the Benjamin Franklin did not actually preform his famous key tied to a kite string experiment. But had written a paper accurately describing that lightning was in fact electricity, and one could produce electrical sparks from the key if the experiment were conducted.

A few lesser-known and shorter-lived scientists who attempted the experiment in the years following Franklin's paper, posthumously proved Franklin's theory was correct. This would have been a nice way to eliminate the competition for patents, but Franklin also never sought any patents for the numerous inventions he fathered in his lifetime. He felt it was his greatest privilege to serve the benefits of his fellow man.

If Ben had tried the experiment himself, we may never have had bi-focals, lightning rods, catamarans, refrigeration or a public library system.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

More Characters for HMH


Here's a collection of spot characters for the Science book project. We're just about to wrap this one up. I should be finished with my part by the end of the week. It's been fun working on this, and it keeps me off the streets.

Build Your Own Robot


So here it is... the plans to build your own robot. Just send $9.95 and a SASE to the address below and I'll place your plans into a hermetically sealed, cardboard toilet paper tube and rush them (pony express) right to whatever turnip patch you just crawled out from.

I'll Take Your Money
PO Box 1234
Fallingfer, IT 97665

Or it's another spot illustration for the 4th grade science book.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Generic Sorta Map Thing


Getting down to the end of this assignment. Here's the latest. This is a background for a page that's all about drawing a map of your neighborhood. I think in the final version of the page, most of this will be obscured. So this is the only place you'll be able to see it in it's full "if somewhat simple" glory.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

New spot


Here's quick one I finished yesterday. I'm working on a bunch of new spots for HMH today.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Big City Scene


HMH is keeping me jumping these days. Here's the latest spread for the 2nd grade science/english project. The large blank areas are for text. It will be fun to see this in it's completed form. 

I just picked up another 20 spot illustrations for grades 2 through 4, so it's time to break out the pencils this morning. 

Monday, September 28, 2009

Common Connection?


So what do all 4 of these new spots have in common? If you answered, "james drew them" your right. But you wouldn't be smarter than a 4th grader. They all use magnets. Any 9 or 10 year-old could tell you that. Maybe you should go sign up for those adult-ed classes you've been considering?

It's already snowing


My sister-in-law told me it's already snowing in Colorado, so here's one of my latest spots for the Grade 4 Science book to play along with that theme. I'm so glad to be living on the California Coast. 

Friday, September 25, 2009

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt


It's almost midnight and I'm just finishing up the last couple of details on this one. It's a large spread illustration for a 2nd grade English/Science book project. This one shows how electricity is used. More to come...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

New Spot Germs


Here's some of the final art for the Weekly Reader assignment. Hmmm, maybe this should go with my medical illustrations? 

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

February 2010 Calendar


Green, Green, Green. Another calendar spread for Lifeway. I have a couple of other projects in the works right now. Should be posting some new stuff in a couple of weeks. 

Oh yea, and the vacation was great! 10 days in the new and improved Toy-Camper was really fun. We drove up to the Eel River in Humbolt County to camp in the redwoods and then down the coast camping at Fort Bragg, Salt Point, Point Reyes and finally Monterey. I'm finding it a little hard to get back to work. 

Monday, August 24, 2009

A quick one sheet


Just made a quick one-sheet for a simple promotion. Might need to do a little more work on this one. Most of this stuff is fairly old.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Weekly Reader Publishing



Been working on a couple of projects for a new client, Weekly Reader Custom Publishing. These are for an educational poster and rebus. I'll finish these up once I get back from my camping trip. It's the maiden voyage of the "new and improved 1989 funky little Toyota camper". It's taken more time than expected... but what worth doing doesn't?

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A couple of interior spots for the new series


I created a couple of new spot illustrations for the next series of cards. I'm still waiting to hear if this project will get the green light. Hopefully I'll hear next week. This will keep me busy for the summer.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Why a blog?


Here's more of my latest work.

Aside from the fact that I really have no reason to build or update a blog. And that nobody actually spends any time reading this. It's just more stuff to worry about keeping updated. 

If my blog is current, then you'll know I don't have enough work to do. Maybe next week I'll go do some Twits or Tweets or whatever the latest fad is. 

This post is only a test...

Friday, April 24, 2009

Finished Card Deck illos


Well it's April 25th and I just sent the last of the illustrations off to the art director for the card decks. I'll have some updated images on my website asap. Here's some of the illustrations from the "Pirates" deck.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

November Calendar Art


Here's another calendar spread off to the publisher.

Monday, March 30, 2009

More Velvet Art


This is part of the new assignment. Klutz asked me to draw the technical illustrations for the "How to" section of the book. I can't wait to see a copy of this one when it's all done. I'll break out my old black light and have a very merry Christmas...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

More Christmas Art


Had a quick follow up assignment from Klutz. 

They liked my "Candyland" illo and decided to use it for the cover. That was a nice surprise so I added a bit of color. The pallet is a very minimal because they want to show what's possible with the markers that come with the book. 

Here it is in it's raw form. They will add headlines and other items on the design end. 

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Square One Card Decks



Here's some new spot illustrations for another new client. PlayBac is a French publishing company that does educational products. I'm working on a series of card decks that are subject specific. We're starting off with the first 4 (Pirates, Soccer, Horses and Spies). 

I'm working with a talented writer, Jim Buckley of Shoreline Publishing and an very creative Art Director, Tom Carling who has designed the card decks. I'm simply providing the spot illustrations for the project, which is going to keep me busy for a while. Each deck has 40 spots x 4 decks comes out to 160 color spot illustrations. It's time to stop writing and get back to drawing. Our deadline is April 24th.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Lifeway Calendar art


Got a new client this month, Lifeway Christian Resources. They are a very large publisher located in Nashville TN. Here's my first Calendar spread fro one of their children's magazines.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Velvet Christmas Art



Working on some b/w velvet art for Klutz publishing. The book will be released in time for the holidays -2009. Look for it wherever Klutz products are sold... which is just bout everywhere.