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!

I just had to take a break from creating art to go water skiing with my wife and kids. We went out on Pewaukee Lake with the Pewaukee Water Ski Club. It was a lot of fun. Silvia and Antonia were skiing like pros! I managed to not look too foolish Corina and Armando also went skiing, but I don’t have pictures of them.

Photos are courtesy of Pewaukee Water Ski Club.

This is me just about to wipe out!

Silvia was amazing. She got up on her skis in one try and then kept wanting to go faster and faster!

Antonia just kept going and going like the Energizer Bunny!

Now it’s back to my dungeon so I can create more art

Hey everyone, my buddy Scott Fischer recently had his latest children’s book released by Simon & Schuster. The book is called JUMP! and is absolutely perfect for little ones from 4 to 8 years-old. The book is full of exciting, energetic illustrations (but then you’d expect no less from Scott, right?). It’s a perfect book for reading out loud and getting your kids to jump along with the animals in the book. They’ll absolutely love doing that! Buy the book from Amazon here.

The popular illustration portal, Hire an Illustrator, has undergone a major redesign. I am proud to have been asked to contribute a background image for the launch of the site. Go check it out now. I also created a second, squid-like creature that may make an appearance on the site. He can be seen below.

Also, I am currently working on an illustration for the the Dallas Film Festival. I’ll share that illustration with you once it is done, which should be soon.

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

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.