My Table Display

My modest table display at a craft fair this past Saturday! I'm so glad I did the show; the best part was meeting many local artists and chat with fellow vendors. I'm slowly but surely finding my way in this new town of mine.

With the new year coming, I've been having many "Eureka!" moments in terms of what kind of direction I want to take my work for the new year. More on that later. Hope everyone is surviving in the meanwhile...I feel like I'm always super busy with work right before the holidays!

Today!

See you there!

Spotted: Light the Menorah!

I got an email yesterday from fellow Illustration for Kids Paula Becker where she spotted my book, Light the Menorah, at a local Children's book store called Babar Books in Montreal! She kindly took pics for me.
There it is-do you see it? I'm happy to see how the yellow cover really stands out. I remember while working on this book that there were discussions about having the cover be really bright. It worked! ;-)
What a cute and cozy looking book store! Thanks again Paula for taking the pics...this made me so happy to see :-)

P.S.- Happy Hanukkah!!!

Crafting and Craft Show

With a light dusting of snow this morning in my new town, a 2ft Christmas tree lit, I did a little crafting- making gift tags. I bought one of these craft punch- yikes...so much fun...a little addicting! And I'm a sucker for red ribbons with little stitchings on them. The penguin and the bear might look familiar, I just took it from some pre-existing art. Pretty easy.

And...I'm doing a local craft show this Saturday, 12/12! Its The Craft Circus Holiday Show. 119 E Liberty, Ann Arbor, from 4-9 pm. Hope to meet some local artists and new people there. I'll be bringing my monster cards and some books. Wish me luck!

No Farting Reindeers this Christmas!

Spoiler alert! This is the final spread from my latest picture book, The Great Reindeer Rebellion. Santa and the striking reindeers make up in the end...and I thought it was pretty cool that I got to draw Santa and the reindeers chillin' in the hot tub.

But there was something that had to be taken out though.
Its only a mere suggestion....can you tell what it is? I thought kids would find this funny if they found this little detail!

Surely reindeers fart too?

But the editors caught it and there was some discussion about it. In the end, it was swapped out with a reindeer blowing bubbles with a straw instead. Wahhh...noooo...not my my farting reindeer! I would love to hear your thoughts....offensive, or not? I really do not mean any harm.

So here is the inside story! If you get this book and read this to your kids, be sure to tell them about it, hee hee! Oh well, at least I got to draw a topless Santa.

I've been so incredibly happy that many people have been telling me about their sightings of the book or have bought it for their kids. Thank you so much, it really makes my day! A special thanks to Carrie-Anne for writing a great review about the book over at her blog!

Monsters Celebrate Holidays too!

My holiday cards are here!!! I've decided to switch things up and did 4 different designs this year. In my ventures into licensing, one of the things I've learned was in creating collections; images that go together, especially in a set like this. I've noticed that I only do alot of one-offs (besides doing books.) So I thought I would give myself that challenge when making holiday cards this year.

You'll notice these are the same monster from the moving monster piece I did (which by the way, I'm getting them printed as a self promo card). They were fun enough for me to crank out 4 designs very quickly.

So let me introduce to you:

Sleepy Monster
Knitting Monster
Santa Monster
Baker Monster

I'll be using these to send to friends, family & clients. Also put some up in my shop if you are interested :-)

And if I don't post before then, Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US! I will be staying here in Ann Arbor this year instead of traveling, but tickets are booked to spend Christmas with my family in PA and NY. I can't wait!

I spy my book...at Barnes & Nobles!

I know its not even Thanksgiving yet but stores everywhere are already displaying alot of Christmas items. This weekend, I went to my local Barnes and Nobles and sure enough, they have my new book there! Its called The Great Reindeer Rebellion, written by Lisa Trumbauer and illustrated by yours truly. Its a great companion to The Haunted Ghoul Bus, with the same format and embossed pages, both published by Sterling.

What happens when the reindeers go on strike? Santas and his elves enlist other animals to pull the sleigh for him!
Some interior spreads:

There are some funny and interesting stories I would like to share while working on this book. But I will save that for another post. For now, I just want to officially announce it here that this book is released! You can get it on Amazon or at your local Barnes & Nobles.

Cluck cluck!