Influence Mapping

So there's this meme that's been going around the interweb in recent months, started by fox-orian on DeviantArt. I'm pretty late to the party, but it looked interesting to me, and I enjoy looking at art. Ha-ha-ha! I tried to stick to sizes as far as how big an impact these guys have had on me, but... honestly, there's only so much space, and it's hard to quantify that sort of thing.

So, here we go!
1. Arthur Adams: I have a giant-size issue of "The New Mutants", where the kids go to Asgard, and have some adventures. Wow. This guy is just awesome, I remember reading that issue over and over again, and copying the drawings out of it when I was a kid. His linework, and just sheer ability to put so much TEXTURE into his drawings has always just floored me.

2. Scott Fischer: I found Scott a couple of years ago on conceptart.org. I love his realistic-cartoon style. I think about his drawings a lot when I'm drawing cars especially.

3. Mobius: There was a time when I tried sooooo hard to draw like Mobius. The perfect balance of detail and simplicity. Noise and quiet. and his linework is beautiful. He is probably the single biggest influence on my drawing style.

4. Alan Lee: When I was a kid, this painting creeped me out. I checked out the fairies book by Lee and Froud from the library, and could hardly look at it, because I didn't want to see this painting of the pooka. Alan Lee's watercolor and pencil drawings are just beautiful, and they helped awaken a love of fantasy in my young mind.

5. Todd McFarlane: Todd seems to get a lot of crap these days from comic fans. One of the things that I learned from him is that comics are both about graphic design and drawing.

6. Lynn Johnston: One of the greatest cartoons still working... maybe the best. If there's only one cartoon that I read in the paper anymore, its "For Better Or For Worse". Fantastic design, compelling stories that we can relate to, and really excellent drawing. Wow.

7. Bernie Wrightson: When I was a kid, my parents got me the book "Dream Makers" which featured (among others) Bernie Wrightson, and Michael Kaluta. Seeing their work, and reading what they had to say about being professional artists is I think one of the big things that galvanized my career path.

8. Jamie Hewlett: I have loved Jamie's artwork since his work on "Tank Girl". Expressive, and not afraid to "go there"... He cracks me up. Also, I'm a big fan of the details he puts into his drawings, and how well the CHARACTERS show through the designs.

9. Katsuhiro Otomo: Akira was the first Japanimation movie I ever saw. It was in Japanese. Without subtitles. Not being able to understand the words didn't matter though. The pictures just reached out and grabbed me. I was hooked. In hindsight, it's good that I started out at the top, because that's a pretty high standard to hold everything else up to... there's a lot of junk out there too. Ha-ha-ha!

10. Brian Froud: "The Dark Crystal" and "Labyrinth" are two of my favorite movies. Brian Froud did most (if not all) of the concept design on them. Again, spending hours drawing goblins and fairies, and watercoloring them.

11. Michael Kaluta: One of the things I remember about Michael Kaluta is that he was talking about a painting he had done, and mentioned that the color on one part of it was actually tea. The idea that you didn't have to use just PAINT to color things was new to me at the time. Of course, tea isn't exactly archival, but when you illustrate for print, the longevity of the original isn't necessarily the primary concern.

When I think about all of these fantastic artists separately, they seem very different. Looking at them all arranged on the map though, I think they hang together nicely. Thanks for spending a few minutes walking down memory lane with me. Ha-ha-ha! Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,
Jeffrey

A Peek at My Sketchbook

I've noticed lately, that I have a few "go to" poses and expressions, and that to do anything different is a bit of a struggle. I read a lot of art blogs, and look at a lot of pictures, but reading and looking (while inspiring and all...) only take you so far. DOING is what allows us to learn, and to grow.
This first set of sketches are 30 second to 2 minute studies from photos. All of them were done at the Gesture Drawing Tools site, which features Male and Female figures (both clothed and not) as well as animals, and also a handy timer that changes the pictures when the time is up. No cheating, ha-ha-ha! The tree at the bottom, I found on Flickr, using their "Explore Interesting" feature. There's always at least one picture worth spending a few minutes drawing per page. I think I spent about 5 minutes on this one.
The second page are two twenty minute drawings I did at a figure drawing night at the St Louis Artist's Guild. I think I actually spent more like 30 minutes on the left one, refining it during the break between poses.

I was reading an article on Dresden Codak's blog "Indistinguishable From Magic" last nite about the importance of developing a visual vocabulary. Here is a link to the post, because he put it far better than I can. For those of you who only want to read one wordy blog post tonite, he talks about Draftsmanship, Clarity of expression, Style is Grounded in Realism, and Visual Flexibility = Mental Flexibility. The whole article is great, but something he said in the last section really hit home for me:

"Often, being able to draw new things presents us with ideas we’d otherwise never consider. Also, simply being comfortable with drawing more things means you’re instinctively more likely to try new things..."and then he goes on to say"... without an artist having the prerequisite drawing experience, he or she may not get the idea to set a scene in a 17th century pirate cove rather than a college dorm room. It’s not so much that a less well-rounded artist couldn’t draw these things, it’s that he or she is less likely to even consider it, as it’s outside the comfort zone."

So what does this mean to me as an illustrator and dreamer of dreams? Something I've known for a long time, but that I get lazy about. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and without new stuff coming in, new stuff can't go out.



I thought of this clip from the king of queens while I was writing, and the same principle applies. It also serves as a warning. Draw from life, or at least from photos. Trying to learn to draw from a cartoon limits us to just those forms, and without understanding why those forms work, we can't move forward and develop our own styles. Poop in, poop out. Ha-ha-ha!

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Daily Life: Super Hero Edition

We've had super heroes on the brain here lately...Last week, Handmade Family set up our space in the Fusion Art Co-op in the mall (you can check out the post here). Amy's making capes, and has started finishing up the hero costumes with masks and cuffs to go along with them. Abby is super-cute. She tried on the mask for the first time last night, and was running around in her jammies, pointing up and declaring, "To the rescue!!!". It's funny watching her costume combinations, too. This afternoon, she'd added a Halloween pumpkin lantern, and tonite when we were getting ready for bed, she said she need super-hero pajamas...NOT, her dog pajamas. Okay, Superman it is. Ha-ha-ha!

So, where am I going with this? My plan is to do a cross-over between here and the Handmade Family blog with illustrations and photos and downloadable goodies that will be available on my website, chronicling our daily, handmade lives. Activities, books and movies, snack-time and of course Daily Life illustrations and comics. All of this will be compiled into a small, themed book. If all goes as planned (and to be honest, I'm nervous about that part), then I will be able to release my little 'zine every two months. The theme for issue one is Super-Heroes, and I hope that you all will join me for a little fun.

That's it for now. Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Roller Girls Versus

I noticed today that it's managed to be two weeks since I posted last...wow. To be fair though, there are a couple of posts by me over on the handmade family blog, so you could go check that out, follow it, and suggest it to all your friends, acquaintances and family if you want. Or you could just go check it out. There's some pretty cool stuff, and my wife is putting up content about her work too, so that's pretty rad... and I'm better about putting pictures of the girls on there too, ha-ha-ha!

Okay, on to the real reasons (excuses) for not posting in two weeks. First, we've been accepted as vendors in a local hand-made cooperative, Fusion. More on that in the next couple of days, as we're working like crazy to get ready for set-up (I'm supposed to be designing our signing right now, actually). The second reason, is this new cover for the fine folks at Hex Games... Roller Girls Versus! I decided to take a different approach to it, and it kind of blew up in my face and took way longer than it should have. On the plus side though, I think I learned a couple of lessons and maybe earned a couple of experience points towards leveling up. I'm not going to jabber any more tonite, because I'm pretty beat, and still have work to do before bed.

Here's the pencils.
and here's the colored version. I pretty much just painted over the pencils this time, but there's a lot more going on than usual. Like I said..."trying something new". Ha-ha-ha! I hope you all like it.
Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend,
Jeffrey

The Problem With Magna Doodles and a "Failed" Daily Life

I don't know if any of you have ever watched the show "Pokemon" or not. The show revolves around a boy who travels the world looking for cute little monsters to trap...or collect. Whatever. He then trains the little guys and takes them to tournaments to fight other pokemonsters. Like a cock-fight with superpowers. I imagine that trying to catch pokemon is only slightly easier than trying to catch a drawing that a two-and-a-half year old has done on a Magna Doodle. I'd been trying to get a good picture (heck, any picture) of this drawing since she was drawing jack-o-lanterns in November. Each new thing from that girl simultaneously thrills, amazes and saddens me. Really, it's one of the most difficult and at the same time rewarding things about watching them grow up. And we've just gotten started!

I started working on some new single illustration "Daily Life's" this week. I'd found this list of 100 themes by Robin Hall at Bubblegum Bullet. While I do have plenty of stories, it seems like it could be fun as well as a good exercise to fit them into the themes...sort of diversify my portfolio, or something. This first one is "Introduction", I'll get to the story in a minute... Ha-ha-ha! First I want to talk about the art. I know that's unusual with the Daily Life drawings, but I don't like this and want to do it over. So I'm going to talk about it.
When I started the Daily Life drawings, they were simple warm-ups that allowed me to work in a relaxed manner and experiment with new techniques. That hasn't changed, but I've been a little surprised with how well they have been received. I'm working on a new cover for Hex right now too, and wanted to try something new... a new way to draw and color the art. So I did this one first. There are a lot of things I like about it, but I don't really care for how the pencil went down on the paper. Originally, when I bought this pad of paper it was to do pencil drawings on. I liked the rough texture and thought it would be a good match. It isn't. So I am switching to a smoother paper next time (either smooth bristol board, or I might try Reeves BFK again), and will try again.
This past weekend I went up to Green Bay with some friends to watch the Super Bowl (Yes we knew the actual game was in Dallas, but you have to watch the Packers win all the marbles in GREEN BAY). For the party, AA (that's double A) made some great pizza using pretzel dough for the crust. There was a lot of work to do in the kitchen, and the game was going to start soon, so I offered to help. Chopping vegetables. I was thinking later how odd it is to greet people coming over with a hand-shake from one hand, while holding a knife in the other. Not the kind of introduction we normally want to have.

Justin told me the other day that I write a lot in my posts. Is it too much? Are you all thinking "More art, less words Jeffrey!"? Leave a comment! Let me know! Until next time, then. Take care and be good.

Your friend,
Jeffrey

More Resolutions, and Some Daily Life Drawings

I did something out of the ordinary at the library the other day...I actually talked to two people I didn't know. Not at the same time, either. This might not seem like a big deal, as I don't think I come off as a particularly shy or introverted person. And really I'm not, but getting the conversation started has always been a stumbling block for me. What do you say to people? Small talk (at least what we think of as small talk) just seems so...I don't know...small. On the other hand, you can't exactly open a conversation by talking about comparative world religions or how Sam Raimi ruined "Spiderman 3" and ways the movie could've been saved. Perhaps the problem is just that I'm over thinking it.

On that note, I made a resolution to myself the other day. I always tell people, that when it comes to school, blogging, forums, or heck, even just life, you get out of it what you put into it. This sounds like good simple advice, but it's hard to live up to sometimes. As a step in the right direction, I've resolved to comment back on comments received within a day instead of waiting until the next time I post. Also, I'm going to start commenting more often on the blogs that I follow. I know I always appreciate hearing from all of you out there in the world, so...

Okay. That's enough drama for the day! I did some new water colored character sketches of the girls and me as I continue to work on some new Daily Life ideas. I've started writing several stories that I think are pretty good, and have the thumbnails for one of the funniest things that happened over the Christmas break all done and ready to move on to a strip. You heard me. A comic strip...I hope you don't mind fart jokes. Ha-ha-ha!


There's also another reason I've done this set of watercolor portraits. We're using them as part of the promo, logo and ad portion of the new venture that Amy and I are working on. Pooling our resources, we've decided to form a new company "Handmade Family", focusing on gifts, accessories, games, and decor for growing families. We've set up a new blog for it, as well as an etsy shop to get things moving in the right direction. We have a couple of more plans to move forward, but will have to wait until they are a little firmer before talking too much about them. You can check out the blog here: Handmade Family. We'll be posting projects (both new, and in progress), events, specials, and whatever else strikes our fancy, so be sure to check in!

Whew! It's been snowing like crazy around here this week, and Amy's been home for the last three days. It's been nice having her, and we've gotten a lot done. I hope you all are all safe and warm. Until next time, take care and be good.

Your friend,
Jeffrey

And the Winner is....

First off, I'd like to thank all of you who left a comment. It's nice to know that somebody is actually reading. I've enjoyed making these calendars immensely, learned a lot about myself and my illustration process, and got to try out some new things. I can't wait for next years, and this time I'm going to get it done early enough that the January month will actually be useable, ha-ha-ha! Now, for the contest winner!
I managed to catch my lovely assistant before she headed off to bed. You can see our high-tech randomizing method there in front of her.
It took a try or two for her to get the concept of "pick just one and show it to me"... at least she's an enthusiastic helper, and it did help to further mix up the entries.
Finally, we got a single winner out of the bowl, and the winner is Laura! Congratulations!

Well, that's it for now folks. I have a new logo to show off soon and some new artwork, but the girls have been getting up early (for some reason) lately, and I need to get to bed so I don't fall asleep at church tomorrow. Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,
Jeffrey

Zita the Spacegirl: A Review

In 2008, before Abby was born, I decided I wanted to write a comic book. It would be a science fiction story, starring a young Abigail set adrift in a world beyond her kin. Foes that seemed so much bigger, and unstoppable(er) than her would be ranged against her. It would allow me to highlight noble traits like compassion, courage, kindness, cleverness and inner-strength while providing a strong (female) role-model for my young daughter. With his new graphic novel "Zita the Spacegirl," Ben Hatke has done all the work for me. All I need to do now is get a piece of masking tape to cover his name on the front and a sharpie to replace it with mine. Done. Ha-ha-ha!

In all seriousness, though, when I first saw the previews for "Zita the Spacegirl" it promised all these things, and it delivered from the first page to the last. Much like a modern day "Wizard of Oz," the protagonist, Zita, along with her friend, Joseph, is drawn through a portal into an alien world with larger than life problems. The crowded alien street where Zita lands is where we catch the first glimpses of her real character, and where we not only begin to like her, but also to care about what happens to her.

The drawings are very well thought out and composed, yet still simple enough to add to the charm of the young hero. Often a panel would be startlingly poignant and cause me to pause and reflect on Zita and her situation.

At the beginning of the story (don't worry, this is not a spoiler), Joseph is captured by an alien being. Zita shows both great courage and loyalty, vowing to rescue him and also risking never being able to return home in order to complete that task. As the story continues, she meets a number of creatures and robots who through her kindness and compassion, cleverness and courage she befriends. The group becomes a sort of family of misfits that love and trust each other... mostly. I love how upon close inspection, I can feel out some of the universal stories of our culture, but that they have been presented in such a fresh and enjoyable way. The book will be available on February 1st from First Second books, and you can pick it up on Amazon, and I think also at the Borders or Barnes and Noble. Definitely worth checking out.

Zita the Spacegirl: Trailer from Ben Hatke on Vimeo.

Okay, that's it for now. Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Daily Life Character Sketches and Calendar Contest!

I got a few copies of the calendar in the mail today, and they look great! I'm really so happy with the quality of the printing, and it's such a relief to finally see them in person. Today, I'd like to share a few of the watercolor character sketches I will be including in the deluxe package deal available over at bigcartel.com, and I think I'm going to have a contest too. Also, as of right now, if you order the deluxe package it will actually arrive to you quicker than from Lulu, because I have them in stock. But first, the pictures.
Crystal gets to go first, because she always gets such short shrift. It's nice to finally have a drawing of her that isn't grumpy. Ha-ha-ha!I guess Justin should be next so that they can stay together. Go Packers!
That kid loves to build towers and then show them off... She got monster slippers for Christmas this year.
I realized after the fact that I'd drawn both of the girls in overalls. It's not terribly far from the daily truth though, so I guess it's okay.
A trip to the library means a huge armload of books and movies. I think she's up to the task.
One of the problems with being a nerd who also gardens is that sometimes your wife catches you practicing bo-staff moves with a rake.
And finally the contest portion of this post. The prize? The deluxe 2011 Daily Life Calendar package pictured above. What do you have to do to win such a rad prize? All you have to do is leave a comment in the comments section of this post (not on facebook, not in my e-mail, but on this post) and on Saturday, January 29 I will randomly select the winner. Easy, right?

Okay, so that's it for now. I have a couple of new posts in the pipeline to shoot your way soon (including a review of Ben Hatke's "Zita the Spacegirl" graphic novel), so check back soon! Until next time then, take care and be good! (and don't forget to comment!)

Your friend,
Jeffrey

More Calendar Illustrations

A few weeks ago, I saw "500 Days of Summer" starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. I thought it was a great movie, and it gave me a lot to think about, regarding life paths, and how each of our choices effect each individual outcome. Anyway, the main character (Tom) wears sweater-vests throughout the film. I'd always associated the sweater-vest with things I think are lame (like Fred from "Scooby Doo"), and this was the first time I'd thought it was cool. So I made myself one out of an old sweater that the sleeves were falling apart on... Amy hates it.

In other news, I'm working this weekend on small buildings and figures similar to the one I made for Abby for Christmas. I'm working with my wife on our portfolio for the craft shows, and specifically for an artist co-op in the city. We're building our sales plan around items for the family, mostly toy's and games for the kids, as well as blankets and comfort items. Also, as I posted about yesterday, I've finished the Calendar, and it's up for sale both in my shop at lulu.com, as well as on bigcartel.com. Here's the rest of the illustrations from the calendar, and you can also get a preview of the whole calendar by clicking the preview link under the cover image on lulu.

Daily Life Calendar 2011!

I've finally managed to put together the 2011 Daily Life illustrated calendar. Thank-you all so much for your patience, and I hope you aren't too tired about hearing about this projects. Taking a cue from another artist and blogger, (Ben Hatke from "Art and Adventure" who I will be talking more about very soon.) I've decided to offer two slightly different purchasing options for this book:

OPTION ONE: “The Basic.”: You can buy a copy of the calendar from Lulu.com for $18.00 by clicking here. This is the option that will get that calendar to you the fastest.

OPTION TWO: “The Deluxe.” You can buy the delux version from my shop on big cartel for $35.00 by clicking here. The deluxe version will be signed with small doodle as well as a small water-colored character sketch of a random Daily Life cast member... but wait! That's not all! Also included in the deluxe version will be one of the original 12 black and white Ink line drawings used for the illustrations. I’m only offering 12 of the deluxe version calendars, because there are only 12 months, first come, first served so order sooner rather than later! This option will take longer since it has to ship twice.

Here are a few more pictures from the Calendar:

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Hopelessly Hopeful List

Talked myself into doing this after looking at Mollie Greene's blog last night. Generally, I dislike resolutions because they remind me of my shortcomings, but here goes. If you don't set goals that seem big, how are you ever going to achieve big, right?

My hopelessly hopeful list of things to accomplish in 2011. I hope you all are looking forward to this exciting year as much as I am!

1. Get the garden going and keep up with the yard.
2. Spend more time outdoors with the kids.
3. Average 1.5 blog posts a week.
4. Participate in a craft show
5. Set aside 30 minutes to draw for myself
6. Say No sometimes
7. Get Some Sleep
8. Recognize when I'm procrastinating
9. Work ahead of deadlines
10. Attend figure drawing nights regularly
11. Eat less sugar
12. Exorcise daily and learn Tai Chi like I've been meaning to
13. Stop procrastinating
14. Clean up messes before they become messes

Um, no art today, but I do have some that I'm getting ready to post about soon. Nance asked that I post a picture of Olivia when I get a chance, so I figure this is as good a time as any. Ha-ha-ha! Until next time, take care and be good! Your friend,
Jeffrey

What I did over the winter break...

So I managed to come in just shy of averaging 1 post a week in 2010... Not too shabby, but also not nearly the prolificness (is that a word?) that I could have hoped for. Starting the new year off with a clean start though... both literally and figuratively(See left). A great many good things happened in 2010. It's always a little dismaying to me at the end of the year to see how many people say things like "See ya later year! Don't let the door hit you in the backside on the way out!" Admittedly we can always look back and see some rough patches, but anybody who's been riding along with me for awhile knows that I'm a "tank is half full" kind of guy, so I'm going to look back on the year with that attitude in mind.

What awesome things happened in the last year? Let me share some highlights.

1. Friends -I made some wonderful friends this past year, as well as caught up with some old ones. Nance over at Mature Landscaping has been wonderfully supportive and insightful. Steve, Leighton and all the other guys at Hex Games have given me some wonderful opportunities and are great to hang out with at the cons. I'm compelled to give a shout out to Crystal, because I won't hear the end of it if I don't... she sacrifices so much to come and hang out in the smokey garage with her husband and I. She braves inane video games, and even "Western Jeffrey" and yet still I failed to put her in the (as yet unfinished, but getting closer all the time) calendar. Finally, I don't know them personally, but have enjoyed so much getting to know them through their blogs Ben Hatke and family, and Corey Godbey are both awesome, have spent the last year or so quietly inspiring me, and deserve all the good things coming to them. If I've forgotten anybody, please forgive me.

2.Family -My second daughter, Olivia was born this year, and we all love her (and how could we not?) I left my full time job at the end of the summer to stay at home with the girls, and it has been such a wonderful, rewarding, fulfilling experience. We play and read, bake and garden, walk and explore, and just enjoy being together. It's tiring and with working at nite, the mornings often come earlier than I'd like but I think I'm happier than I've been in a long time. This year, we made the majority of our Christmas presents. It was both freeing and actually satisfying on a simple, basic level. Here's the little house I made for Abby. The characters are her and her best stuffed animal friends, Hippo(the dinosaur), Goosey(the moose), and Molly(the girl in the pink dress).

3.Work -I've had some wonderful opportunities this year. I started off the year doing design work for video games and movies for Concept Art House. I did 5 covers and 10 interior illustrations for Hex Games. A couple of illustrations for the guys at O.G.R.E.. I'm excited that I'm able to do the work that I have been, and look forward to continuing to do more of it. I enjoyed the couple of shows and cons that I went to this year, and made some good contacts and am looking forward to doing more of them this coming year. Amy and I are also thinking about expanding beyond Etsy (redherringjeff, and abigailolivia) and doing craft shows. Also, there might be an opportunity to get into a shop with other artists this year. More information on that as it becomes available. Ha-ha-ha!

As great as 2010 was, I'm looking forward to 2011. I'm looking over my list of plans/resolutions for the coming year. The ones that stick out are 1.Time Management, 2.Say no sometimes, and 3. Get some sleep. Also, I plan on upping my average posts to 1.5 times a week for a total of 78 this year, expanding the scope of Daily Life illustrations as I've grown fond of them, and think they deserve to be handled better than I have been, and add in more general daily drawing.
Whew! What a post. I think I'd also like to write a little bit less and show a little bit more in the coming year, Ha-ha-ha! Okay, I'm going to do some coloring of calendar illustrations before bed, and I'll talk to you all again soon!

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Daily Life: The problem with persona projects...

I feel like I keep on promising this thing, but it never gets done... ugh. I'm so close to finishing it up, but I have to stop again to get some actual client work done. I was stressing out about this, because I really wanted to have this finished and ready to put up for sale in the middle of November so that maybe some peoples would buy it, Ha-ha-ha! That's the problem with being a professional with a blog that showcases a lot of personal work and projects... in progress. I think it sometimes makes me look more irresponsible than I actually am.
If you're waiting to pick one of these guys up, thank you for being so patient. Like I said, I'm nearly finished with the illustrations, and I'm really happy with how they are turning out. I'm really excited to see them printed. In the meantime, here's three of the colored images for you to check out. I hope you like them as much as I do.


Thanks for looking (and hopefully understanding) and being so patient. Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Daily Life: Wrapping up the year, and ramping for 2011

Sorry for no post last week... I got sick on Thanksgiving and spent the day on the couch watching "Golden Girls". I don't know what it is about that show, maybe it's because it was what was on during the day when I was a kid, so that's just what I watched when I was sick as a kid. At any rate, I still watch it when I'm sick, and it helps me feel better. Then the weekend was just crazy...

So, you get a double batch of drawings this week! YAY! The final four pencil drawings (well okay, three pencils and one ink) for the Daily life Calendar.
September is one of the four months out of the year that it's truly comfortable hanging out in the garage. Crystal doesn't understand why Justin likes skull pipes so much. It's just because they're cool. I think this is not only a pretty accurate depiction of us hanging out in the garage, but also a fairly (at least to me) interesting study in our different emotional stances... I always feel like they are just so much more "with it" than I am. On the other hand... I can blow smoke rings, and Justin can't.

In October, we go to the pumpkin patch. A couple of things about this drawing. It is the first time I've used Abby's Nana in a Daily Life picture, and I was a little nervous about it... Don't know why. I'm not sure what to do with her left arm, it looks like she should be holding a cane, but that's just silly. I'll just move it down and have her holding her purse. Amy says that Olivia is too small. She is, but I think I'm going to leave her that way, because she's just so dang cute.

We bake, and bake, and bake... one of the nice things about being at home all the time, is that you start making things, and that just plain enriches life. Abby is a very enthusiastic helper, which sometimes necessitates reminding her that some things are just too dangerous for a two and a half year old. I realized while I was drawing this that I have never not had a tea kettle on the stove, and that led me to wonder how common that actually was. It seems like everybody should have one, though I'm sure they don't... also yes, I normally do kneel on the floor when I'm dealing with stuff in the oven. I just feel more stable that way.
The Christmas morning illustration. I've done a pretty good job (I think) of avoiding the holidays in these illustrations. Christmas morning however, is not only my fourth favorite morning of the year, but it's also one of the funniest, story-wise. Sorry, again I inked it before I scanned it.

So, I know I'm running further and further behind on these, and cutting it pretty close, but they will be done by this time next week, and then we can all breath a sigh of relief (or at least I can), take a sip of hot apple cider (or cocoa, or eggnog, or rum... whatever), and get to work on making the presents for the kids. I hope you all have a great week and are enjoying the cool late autumn weather and the Advent season as much as I am. Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend,
Jeffrey