This morning I had the honor of being a guest on the very popular, local morning TV show “The Morning Blend.” I want to give a very special thanks to the producer, Kim Buchanan, as well as the ever-friendly hosts, Alison de Castro and Molly Fay, all of whom made it a great experience.

Check out the video here.

If you’re on a Mac and have trouble viewing the video, you could download the free Flip4Mac software which will let you view Windows Media Files through Quicktime.

In the segment, I gave some info about an upcoming event where I will be signing books, hanging with other authors, drawing silly pictures for kids, and just having a lot of fun. The event is:

Sunday, November 23, 2008
Author Mania
Martha Merrell’s Books
231 West Main Street
Waukesha, Wisconsin
www.marthambooks.com

Last year, they had over 35 authors and illustrators at the event! It’s a great way to kick off your holiday shopping

The website to learn more about the book, or to make a purchase, is www.monsterisle.net

“Welcome to Monster Isle” from publisher, Immedium, is now available! I created all of the illustrations for this children’s picture book and couldn’t be more happy with the way it turned out. Your kids will love this book. Being a parent of three children, one of them a boy, I am particularly happy that my son enjoys the book as much as he does (I attribute this more to the monsters than to my super cool illustrations). But he could be saying all the nice things about my book because he knows I did the illustrations. … nah

You can order the book from many different places, including your local, independent bookseller. The book is also available from Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and many more online retailers.

If you want to buy a copy of the book directly from me (which will be signed and also include an original sketch), head over to monsterisle.net and visit the “Buy the Book” section. You can also choose to purchase a copy of the book signed by the author, Oliver Chin, or download FREE coloring pages and activity sheets for your children to enjoy.

For those of you in the Metro Milwaukee area, tune in to WTMJ-4 TV’s “The Morning Blend” this Thursday, October 30th at 9:00am as I sit down with hosts, Molly and Alison, to discuss my picture book.

To learn more about the book, visit monsterisle.net

If you ever get cornered by this furry little guy, just throw him a bone and you’ll be able to make your escape. But why would you want to run from him? He’s just so cute! That is, until he chews up all your slippers and chases rabbits into your house.

This Wolfboy illustration is one of a series of illustrations I am doing during the month of October to celebrate … what else? Halloween. It’s one my favorite holidays! Check back often to see which of your favorite creatures will make an appearance.

You can see an entire island full of monsters in “Welcome to Monster Isle,” a new children’s picture book from Immedium, Inc., written by Oliver Chin and illustrated by yours truly. Visit MonsterIsle.net to learn more about the book or download some goodies like wallpapers, screensavers, and coloring pages.

By the way, I’ve received word from my publisher that the books have arrived at the distributor and are on their way to stores, YAY!

“I vant to give you a sucker!”, says Lil’ Drac. This cute little guy is all about giving. He wants to share his Halloween candy, isn’t that sweet?

This piece of art is the second in a series of Classic Universal Monster inspired pieces. I can’t wait to see which monster makes an appearance next. During the month of October, I am creating Universal Monster inspired art and posting it to my blog. Check back often to see if one of your favorite creatures will make an appearance.

You can see an entire island full of monsters in “Welcome to Monster Isle,” a new children’s picture book from Immedium, Inc., written by Oliver Chin and illustrated by yours truly. Visit MonsterIsle.net to learn more about the book or download some goodies like wallpapers, screensavers, and coloring pages.

Keeping up with a monster theme for October, I thought I’d share a little piece of art done just for fun … my interpretation of The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Okay, so he’s a little more cute than the original version, but even a creature from a dirty swamp had to be a kid once!

I grew up watching all the classic Universal Monster movies, such as The Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, and my all-time favorite, The Invisible Man. They clearly corrupted me and made me the crazy, monster-drawing goof I am today.

Check back often during the month of October as I’ll be posting more of my little homages to the great Monsters of Universal.

You can see an entire island full of monsters in “Welcome to Monster Isle,” a new children’s picture book from Immedium, Inc., written by Oliver Chin and illustrated by yours truly. Visit MonsterIsle.net to learn more about the book or download some goodies like wallpapers, screensavers, and coloring pages.

I’m sure it’s no surprise to many of you that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and always has been. Take for instance the year I dressed up as Wolfman. The year was 1988, and I was heading off to the high school dance dressed as a giant fur ball. As you can see from the pics, it wasn’t the highest quality Wolfman costume on the market. Quite a number of people thought I was a gorilla or Chewbacca (I had to do Chewie’s yell all night). It was funny. One thing was for sure though, it was super hot in that outfit!! I guess I hadn’t thought about how hot I’d get from dancing while wearing it. But I was soft and cuddly, and all the girls wanted a big, furry hug from the wolfman/gorilla/chewbacca creature. So the costume worked its magic and was well worth the rental fee!!

When I created the Yowie character for “Welcome to Monster Isle,” I knew I’d seen a giant, furry beast before. And it was me! I never understood how the Yowie could be all smiles in that hot fur of his. But then I remembered the day I dressed up in my Wolfman costume. The Yowie is all smiles because he gets lots of hugs from cute female Yowies! And I bet he’s a better dancer than me, too.