Illustration Friday: Crowded

Illustration Friday's topic hits very close to home. I'm really tired.

Illustration Friday: Bloom

Maybe not what was intended for the topic on the Illustration Friday site, but my wife's idea struck me as funniest. Hey, and I like funny.

Illustration Friday: Fragile

This is my very first post for the site Illustration Friday! It's a site created just to spark ideas and imagination. I love seeing all of the illustrators' interpretations of the weekly topics, which this week is 'Fragile'. Here's my interpretation. I grew up with 6 sisters, so I have plenty of experience watching this sort of thing.

Inspired

Lately I've found so many illustrator's sites and blogs, and I've been totally inspired to improve my work. I've been actively posting on the Drawing Board and have been exposed to so many brilliant artists there.

Through another fun site, Illustration Friday, I've found so many other illustrators' blogs than I ever knew existed. I just love reading their experiences and seeing their work.

I've just joined a Children's Illustrator's Web Ring that I hope will bring more people to my blog (and maybe, someday, someone will actually leave a comment...who knows?). Just click on the links below the logo on the right column to see who else is a member of the ring. They're wonderful!

Being an illustrator is so solitary sometimes. It's good to at least find friends through the wonderful world wide web.

Junie B. Jones: Twice as good

If you are lucky enough to have children between the age 5 and up to their young teens, you owe it to yourself to check out the many adventures of Junie B. Jones. They are a hilarious set of stories told first person by a sassy kindergartener (and later, first grader) named, you guessed it, Junie B. Jones. Her grammar is humorously incorrect, but so natural. Barbara Park, the author, is so talented to be able to suck you right into each story and laugh out-loud. I can totally relate to this poor little girl's parents' exasperation at Junie B.'s latest problems.

Maybe it's because I'm an illustrator, but I enjoy the wonderful illustrations by Denise Brunkus just as much as I like the stories. They remind me of the pencil sketches I've seen from Norman Rockwell.

My 6 year old son checked out two of Junie B.'s books from his school library this week. When we saw that both were the same exact story, we asked him why he got two of the same thing. He replied with a sheepish grin, "In case I wanted to read it again."

Bambi and Dead Goldfish

World War III broke out at our house on the release of Walt Disney's Bambi on DVD. My 4 year old daughter was convinced that Bambi was a girl, and trying to get her to think otherwise only broke down all hope of rational conversation. To put it bluntly, there was much screaming and gnashing of teeth. Bambi is now a girl.

Her outcry could also be the result of both her birthday goldfish floating to the top just the day before. She got the goldfish to test all of us on our competence with pets. We failed miserably. My 1 year old daughter decided to share her milk with the fish, and our lack of knowledge on how to handle such a situation didn't fare too well. They lasted only three days in the Bruner home. They were scrawny and pretty lethargic when we first got them, so who knows how well the "Walmart associates" took care of them before we adopted the poor things. They were doomed from the start.