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  Nick Fury workshop

  The theme of my latest workshop was The Avengers’ Nick Fury. Our model had the full costume and lots of fun props. I opted for no jacket during the long pose. The outfit underneath had a lot of character to it. I was hoping the eye patch was enough to place the character. I’m sure ...

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  Painting at the Zoo

    Recently the Plein Air Painters of Chicago met up at the Lincoln Park Zoo on a beautiful Saturday morning in April. I regularly run along the lake front and the zoo is always my favorite detour from the running path. We have a regular route through the zoo to see as many animals as ...

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  DrawnToday Podcast: Podcast Episode 41 – Illustrators, UNITE!

  DrawnToday Podcast: Podcast Episode 41 – Illustrators, UNITE!.   This episode of the DrawnToday Podcast features Mike Sass and Aaron Miller along with illustrators such as Jim Pavelick and Todd Lockwood during a panel discussion at this year’s Illuxcon symposium.  In a discussion that has a direct bearing on each and every working illustrator and ...

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  Fires of the Desert

  Fires of the Desert; Cover for the 4th book in the Children of the Desert series by Leona Wisoker. I needed to convey the main character in a way I thought would really tie into the title and capture the spirit of the book. For inspiration I turned to the romantics and orientalists. Frederic Leighton’s Flaming ...

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  Pris

  In August I choose Pris from the movie Bladerunner for the theme at my workshop. I was able to find an awesome wig that was close to what was in the movie. I actually like the one I found better. We tore up some makeup to create the doll look. Pris wasn’t a doll in ...

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  Bells of the Kingdom cover

  This is the cover art for Leona Wisoker’s third novel in the Children of the Desert series (Mercury Retrograde Press); Bells of the Kingdom. What a challenge this image was. There is magic in her world but not a lot of visual fireworks. And in particular with the main character I wanted to focus on ...

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  L5R – Exchange of Letters

  I wanted you to be able to almost hear the crickets chirping and the cicadas singing.

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  Tour de Fat – Plein air

  The Saturday paint out with the Plein Air Painters of Chicago started like any other. Finding a good spot, saying hello to friends, and getting to work. And I try not to forget stuff but I always do. This time I didn’t need my umbrella but I hated that I forgot it. But I found ...

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  Waiting For a Heatless Sun

  This was a private commission. These are always awesome jobs to work on as I usually have total creative control. I love getting a few things to work with such as a word or a subject and leaving the rest to me. The painting represents the “animal spirit” of the recipient and the location represents ...

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  Girl with Hair Like the Sun

  Cover art for the book “The Girl with Hair Like the Sun”. The story of Ruth Mix is retold for the YA audience of her involvement as a nurse’s aid at the Gila River Japanese internment camp during World War II.   Client: Class Productions

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  Faun paintings from my recent workshop

    At the Figurative Illustration Workshop the June theme was the “faun” or “satyr”. The costume came together almost without a hitch. There was a last minute dash to track down a UPS truck that had the horns 30 minutes before the workshop was to start – whew! Tim and Brittany brought their dog, Maggie, ...

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  The Black Knights

  Here are some character studies for Julie Ann Walker’s Black Knights. They are the stars in her upcoming series. They were a fun challenge to work on. The idea was that they were sketch paintings by one of the characters, Becky.   Client: Julie Ann Walker