New Book!

My latest project is finally completed!

I am proud to announce that I have illustrated a children's book for an author friend of mine, Annette Oquendo, and the book is now available as a PDF ebook!

Click Here To Download PDF

The paperback copy is in the works and soon to follow.  I'd say a couple of weeks max, so stay tuned for that announcement!

Yes, at the moment, the link above will also offer a hard-cover copy of the book at $25.  That is a special edition hard cover that may or may not be available for a limited time.  You are free to purchase it at said price, but keep in mind that the paperback copy will be available at a much more reasonable price once we have tied that final loose end.

We are very excited about the release and you can be sure there will be some upcoming local reading and book signing events.  Of course, I will gladly announce those when the time comes.

Website Issues & Maintenance...

To anyone who has attempted to visit my website... Please be patient. The server I use has been having issues for the passed 48hrs and it is effecting the functionality of my site. Many links are not working, or they work sometimes then go off again. And some web pages disappear and reappear. Big mess. If I hadn't recently renewed my annual subscription, I would be switching to another provider.

Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators

I am now officially a member of the SCBWI, a wonderful resource for writers and illustrators in the children's book field!  I've been wanting to join for some time, but just never got around to it till recently.  I am learning so much about how to submit my work to publishers and what I need to do to get noticed as an artist.  It's going to take a lot of consistent work on my part, but I hope it will be worth it.

Here's my artist's page on the website...
http://www.scbwi.org/MemberProfile.aspx?u=2972405942210914

  It feels great to be a part of this and to be included among so many talented people!

Testing...

Just testing for Facebook blog import...

Photo Manipulation - Little Cherub...

We've taken to calling our youngest daughter our "little cherub" She has ash blond hair that curls at the ends, and it is at just the right length that most cherubs are painted to have. She also, just seems to have the look of a cherub, especially when her cheeks are blushed.

I've been teaching myself a lot of Photoshop techniques, so I decided to pose my little angel and take a photo of her. It was tough getting just the right pose and lighting, but when I finally did (with her kneeling on our washing machine) the photo was terribly blurry. Still, I decided to work with it since getting the photo "perfect" was proving to be a challenge.

And work with it, I did...

Here is a comparison of the original photo beside the photoshopped cherub...


And here is the photoshopped version on its own...


Thanks for looking!

original

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you all enjoy your holiday! I wish I had a special V-Day sale for you, but it's a little late for that. No one would get their gifts in time to give away!

So, instead, I'd like to extend my $5 print sale. Order a 5x7 print of any of my existing work (like the illustration, "First Crush", above) for only $5 a piece! This includes shipping!

With the looong and miserable winter some of us have been enduring, I'm sure I'm not the only one looking forward to spring. I'm planning on having a spring sale as well, and maybe a couple of contests for free prints.

The above illustration has been added to my online portfolio. Thanks for visiting!
original

Updates

For those of you accessing my Facebook page, I would like you to know that for a while I will be adding any relevant posts or artwork through my blog. These posts should be automatically added to my FB page, as that is how I have it set up. Hopefully this is the case, because, at the moment, I have no access to my page and hope my fans are not slipping away from me!
I hope everyone is keeping well and getting ready for the start of a new year! Best wishes to all, and please don't stop visiting or checking in on my website. My services are always available, so if you have questions, feel free to email me via my website. Again, I do not have access to my FB page, so I can't see any questions you may post on the wall.

original