An Angry Gesture

It's not too hard to come up with angry/frustrated gestures for my character lately. 

All I need to do is look out the window.

And the news says more to come in a few days?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

What no one will ever know...

I am thrilled to be working on a picture book about Henry Ford as a young inventor. 

This week I have devoted several days to research, trying to find out what his first "tractor-ish" (that's my technical term for it) contraption looked like. After countless hours and consulting with the author, editor, and art director, we have come to the conclusion that no one really knows.

So, I am free to interpret (and hope the expert readers when reviewing the sketches don't reeeeaaally know either)…

And in the Fall of 2015, when a young reader is looking at the small, "tractor-ish" contraption in the lower corner of a two page spread that child won't know that this illustrator spent countless hours trying to figure out what no one really knows :-)

Also, just a personal note…

I had the most incredibly annoying helper today!

 ZZZZZZZZZZZ

"Draw the Corgi..."

I mentioned to my friend, Claudia, a very talented illustrator (check out her blog, here), that a friend brought over their new Corgi puppy to meet our poodle (and us) last night. 

This morning I awoke to a text from her, "Draw the Corgi when you have time". 

Of course, one never has time, one must make time, so here are a few little sketches from memory that I did before I set to work on my book deadline today. 

I was struck by her funny proportions.

What a regal cutie!

Puppy love!!!!! xo