Blue and Violetta are having a blast.  Wishing you a warm and cozy holiday and a very Happy New Year!

Are you a Stave or a Knave?  First you must choose…

Pheon begins this Saturday, Sept 18th!  This alternate-reality game is sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the kick-off event will be held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, complete with bellydancers sending encoded messages to players within their dancing. After this event, anyone can play Pheon wherever they are in the world through Facebook and Twitter.

I had the opportunity to be involved in a very small way with the Pheon design team by helping create the comic intro to the game.  In it is a quick description of the world of Terra Tectus and how the once beautiful and harmonious world was laid to ruin.

You can also read more about the game of Pheon here in Wired Magazine.

Back from the whirlwind of ICON6 in Pasadena!  The entire conference was an incredible experience and well worth the travel.  It was well organized, thoughtful, informative, and an excellent forum to connect with other artists and art directors and feel part of a strong community.  I met some really wonderful artists and was so inspired by everyone’s talent.

Above are photos of my table at the Roadshow, a forum where 100 selected artists showed their wares to invited art directors and buyers from all industries.  You can see a few of the children’s books I’ve illustrated, some postcards, my portfolio, and my animated short Elegy screening on my brother’s laptop.  (Thanks bro!)  My good friend and wonderful talent Julia Lundman also had a table there.

All in all, it was an extremely rewarding experience and I’m convinced I should be attending all future ICONS!  Many thanks to all involved with the organizing, it really was a blast.  And meeting featured guest Todd Oldham was a treat and insanely inspiring!

I’ll be attending ICON6, the illustration conference, in Pasadena this week from July 14th through the 17th.  I’ll also be participating in the Roadshow on Thursday the 15th, where a select group of illustrators will be showing their work to invited art directors, buyers, and media professionals.  Looking forward to some inspiring workshops and meeting incredibly talented folks!

I know I haven’t really been posting too much lately, but here’s why.  I have a series of 4 children’s books coming out in a few months, and luckily I get to show you all a sneak peak.

The series is called Amazing Autumn and is an educational look into some of the fun things that happen during the season.

Click on the pics for a larger view.

These were great fun to do, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to do more books.  I’ll give a shout out to everyone when they are hot of the press!

I managed to make it to a figure drawing workshop last Friday called Metamorphica held by the San Francisco butoh group Bad Unkl Sista.  Really phenomenal costuming and makeup, and some contemporary neo-butoh performance thrown in for good measure.

It was a bit of sensory overload but in an exciting way.  Truly a visual smorgasbord in a highly charged, creative atmosphere.  I have to say it was challenging to draw.  It had been some time since I did any figure drawing, and having the incredible costumes didn’t exactly make the process easier.  It does, however, whet the appetite for more drawing opportunities like this.

Clicking on the picture will open the larger size.