Today was my big book signing event at The Twig Book Shop and it was a blast. I made some coloring pages that were directly from the books and brought them along with me because there was an extra event happening right outside the store. Storytime teller Miss Anastasia was hosting a Screen Free Day allowing kids the opportunity to disconnect from all of their devices while promoting activities such as reading, playing, and coloring. There were several different stations with different activities and mine was, you guessed it, coloring and drawing! Every child could go to each station and participate in that activity, when completed, they got a stamp, sticker, or checkmark and proceeded to the next station. We had a lot of fun at my station as kids could flip through my book and pick their own page to color. I just posted the ones I was able to take a picture of before they ran off (there were several children coming and going at once) some of the little artists let me keep their artwork.

Big thanks to Miss Anastasia and all the folks down at The Twig Book Shop!

IT Chapter 2 is finally out now in theaters! Who is your favorite Pennywise?  Bill Skarsgard or the original, Tim Curry? Personally, I’m a big fan of Stephen King’s books and I like both iterations for different reasons. Have you seen IT yet?  “S P L IT” colored pencils and ink on 11×14 Bristol.

My dad turns 70 today and this is what I made him for his birthday. He’s a big James Bond fan (as am I) and Sean Connery will always be my 007. So for his gift this year I decided to illustrate a piece based on the 1963 movie From Russia With Love because a) Sean Connery b) It was the first Bond movie my dad saw when he was a teenager and c) It’s a classic and also happens to be one of my favorites. Colored Pencils and ink on 11×14 Bristol paper.

Available in both hardcover and paperback editions! Do Penguins Have Pediatricians?  is out now! For more info and purchase links head over to my books page here.

Everyday we see so much negativity in the news that we sometimes lose sight of the positivity in the world around us. We mustn’t ever forget that we have the power to make change and see the better side of things. We wanted to create a message for the kids who would walk to their bus stop in the morning. The message: “You got this! Have a great 1st day!” Through this small gesture we showed how working together to send a positive message can be fun, uplifting, and maybe even have a greater impact than imagined. From our family to yours, we hope every kid and educator will feel encouraged and inspired on their 1st day back to school. You got this!

 

 

Yesterday I received my new business cards in the mail, and I have to say, they look pretty darn great! I can’t remember if or when was the last time I had business cards but a few weeks ago I was asked if I had one and I did not. So, I decided to design some cards for myself for when I go out and meet people. I went with Vistaprint this time around. I’ve used other services before but I’m usually not that happy with the results. These guys do a very decent job for a decent price and I got my cards within a week or so. (I was not paid by Vistaprint to say that however I’m open to the possibility XD)

I’ll probably order some more tweaked versions of these after I get busy getting rid of them. I redesigned the side with my information because I had gotten away and came back with a fresh eye to see that I wasn’t satisfied with the layout and design, it was too late by that time because they had already gone to the printer; and so now I will have to order another 500. I did the design of the side with the artwork in Photoshop and the side with text I did in Illustrator. All of the little icons with the exception of the social media ones I did entirely myself in illustrator. All in all, I’m pretty happy with how they turned out and I think they’re going to serve their purpose well.  Now to get out and pass them around everywhere!

The Twig Book Shop will be hosting my very first “Sit & Sign” event on Saturday Sept. 21st, 2019 from 10 am to 1 pm. Located at the former Pearl Brewery on the Museum Reach of the Riverwalk, The Twig provides newly released books for children and adults as well as award-winning classics. Click on the link for detailed directions.
Finding The Twig_0

I’ll be outside at 10 am to do a brief activity with the kids and Miss Anastasia, and then it’s inside after 10:30 am to sign both of my books Do Penguins Have Pediatricians? and Did Dinosaurs Have Dentists? This will be during the weekly farmer’s market so bring your kids and/or grandkids down to the The Twig and get your very own signed copies! Visit my “Contact” page if you have any questions about the books or the event. Hope to see you there!

In two more weeks my book Do Penguins Have Pediatricians? is officially released! It’s about penguins and other antarctic/arctic animals. It’s even got a wolverine! I’m really excited about this one and I had a ton of fun making the art for it,  I really can’t wait to share it with the world. If you enjoyed Did Dinosaurs Have Dentists? then I think you’re going to love this one.

Everything just came together very nicely and my vision for the book was absolutely clear to me this time around; I didn’t even have to send the publisher or author any sketches or storyboards because it was trusted I knew how to handle the story (although I still made them for my own visual process and sent them  along to the author). I was given a lot of freedom to just do what I do and I think the results turned out fantastic! Schiffer even let me have creative control to design much of the book itself (end papers, bio page, back cover, etc). When I designed the image for the back cover I added somewhat of an easter egg. Can you find it?

I couldn’t be more grateful to all the folks at Schiffer for letting me work on it and also Patrick O’Donnell for trusting me with his wonderfully funny children’s books. Really am stoked about this cute sequel and hope you are too! Follow the link if you’d like more info, and as always, thanks for reading!

 

I might have mentioned I had a couple children’s books published (hee hee) but I am also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and there is a Southwest chapter right here in San Antonio! Well, I recently had a chance to attend an awesome workshop they put together for our chapter here at the University of Incarnate Word. Our Regional Advisor Ms. Lupe Ruiz-Flores was the speaker on the topics of book launches, school visits, and beyond. It was a great time and I even connected with a couple awesome authors while I was there. Thanks to all who helped put it together! (oh, and there I am in the far back on the left, I’m the tall dark figure lol.)