The children’s book, Welcome to Monster Isle, which I illustrated, has won the 2009 Bookbuilders West award for Best Children’s Book Cover in their 39th Annual Book Show!

The award ceremony took place on January 27, 2010 at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. BookBuilders West celebrates the best of Western book design, manufacturing and the advancement of “Green” publishing. So this is a wonderful award for my publisher, Immedium, as well.

View the Monster Isle website

Buy the Monster Isle book at Amazon

Below is a painting that I’ve been working on over the past few weekends. The photos below show me putting the final touches on the eyes of the character. This painting was done just for fun. It measures 24″x24″ and is painted in oils on canvas.

Above is a piece of art created for the Beautiful Grim Art Auction, an auction put together by fellow illustrator, Daarken, and animator, Lief Jeffers, with the purpose of raising money for Daarken’s girlfriend, who has a lot of medical bills due to her fight against breast cancer. Please visit the Beautiful Grim website to learn more about Cat, as well as the auction. And please consider either donating some money or purchasing a piece of art from the auction once it goes live next year. There are close to 200 artists contributing to the auction, a testament to the love and good hearts of so many talented individuals in our industry. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a piece of art you’d love to buy.

The piece I created, entitled “Blood Flower”, will be an 18″x18″ print, signed and remarked with an original drawing. The print will be custom framed. Daarken plans to put together a gallery showing of all the art as well, so please check the Beautiful Grim website for details and updates.

I just finished another personal piece of art. I am creating a series of monster illustrations styled in a similar way. This illustration is inspired by Mayan aesthetics, albeit loosely. You can see a larger version here. The first monster in the series is seen below, which is inspired by East Indian aesthetics. Enjoy!

Appearances aren’t always what they seem. Some of us have learned to put on a tough exterior in order to survive in our surroundings. How some of us manage to escape the “hood” is a mystery. At times, it’s like you have someone watching over you. Someone protecting you. View a larger version of this piece here.

I am happy to announce that “Welcome to Monster Isle” is now online in digital form through a very innovative and exciting website, astorybeforebed.com, which has partnered with my publisher, Immedium, Inc.

astorybeforebed.com allows anyone with a webcam to record themselves reading a book from their online library, page by page. The user can then purchase their reading of the book and share the link with friends, family, or whoever. Like a picture-in-picture feature on television, the recipient can then see the video of you reading the book, along with the actual book on screen. Check out the site and view the demo. It is pretty cool!

The website also offers discounts to men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces.

For a direct link to the Monster Isle book, click here.