Welcome to Monster Isle (Immedium, Inc.), written by Oliver Chin and illustrated by yours truly has been brought to life with stunning interactivity by Mobad Games and is now featured in the Apple Mac App Store from March 15 to March 22, 2012. The interactive iPad, iPhone, and Mac app features:

• “Read to Me” highlights the words to improve reading skills
• “I Can Read” allows reading at your own pace
• Individual words can be tapped and multiple words selected to hear that section of the story played back
• Interactive surprises and hidden objects on every page
• Hints can be turned on to assist in finding interactive thingamabobs
• Auto Play available if you want to watch the story unfold like a movie
• Interactive map with descriptions of the mythical beasts

View the app in the Mac App store
Get the app for your iPad or iPhone

Here’s another batch of drawings I received from children after a school visit where I presented my Welcome to Monster Isle children’s book. It looks like these kids had a lot of fun creating their own monsters. These drawings are so creative! Enjoy.

Fans of Welcome to Monster Isle send me the coolest drawings!

Hi everyone! I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I have been busy with many projects. One of those projects I worked on late last year has finally arrived in stores. Thumb Wars: The Ultimate Guide is a thumb wrestling activity book published by Klutz/Scholastic for which I created all of the illustrations, along with some of the text treatments and some page layouts. The team over at Klutz, Jill Turney (Art Director) and Eva Steele-Staccio (Writer & Editor), made this an amazingly fun project to work on. Officially the book hits stores in February, but it is already showing up with various online retailers. The book even comes with a really cool, unique glove for you and an opponent to wear while thumb wrestling. So go out and buy the book!

The book at Klutz

The book at Amazon.com

The latest issue of Creative Quarterly Magazine (issue 20) features one of my images entitled Mayan Walker. I’m in the company of such legendary illustrators as Anita Kunz and David Palumbo, so check out the magazine if you get a chance.

Also, a project I had been working on for Scholastic/Klutz Books a few months back is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com and will be released February 1, 2011. The book, Thumb Wars: The Ultimate Guide, is full of illustrations and various thumb wrestling games, techniques, and challenges. It also comes packaged with the “Sleeve of Doom,” a slick, shiny sleeve that locks the two opponent’s hands in place while they battle it out.

Also, I’ll be selling and signing copies of Welcome to Monster Isle at the Edgerton Book Festival in Edgerton, Wisconsin on Saturday, October 23rd from 10am-4pm. Special guest at the festival will be author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg. Hope to see you there!

When you get your first award for writing or illustrating, it’s a big deal. A very big deal. A mega big deal. So you can imagine how proud I am that my daughter won her first book award!

Antonia took second place in the 2010 Wisconsin Association of School Boards’ Write and Illustrate Your Own Picture Book Contest! Her awesome creation, The Mummy Comes Moaning, was judged one of the best among 342 entries state-wide. She competed in the 4th & 5th grade division. Along with a certificate of commendation and a cash award, her book will travel the state to be displayed at the WASB Fall Regional Meetings and the State Education Convention held in Milwaukee in January of 2011.

Toni put so much thought and time into her project. She had to meet strict requirements and deadlines. She created her book from scratch, hand-binding it herself. She wrote and rewrote her story. She sketched and painted and added various media to creatively illustrate each scene. She devoted many evening and weekend hours to turn in the best book she could. In the end, it was a masterpiece, and she’s incredibly proud to see that work rewarded.

My wife, Silvia, and I couldn’t be happier for her. Congrats to you, Toni! Well done!