Here's some more Notable Missourian artwork for a book on baseball legend Buck O'Neil (published by Truman State University Press). This illustration shows young Buck and some friends watching a baseball game through a fence.
Final Art
Approved rough sketch. I ended up moving the fence and the ball field up for the final art.
Alternate rough sketch
Another alternate sketch
Here is an older William Clark in his council house meeting with a tribal leader. This image is for the Notable Missourian book on William Clark published by Truman State University.
Again...in some ways I like the orginal rough draft better than the final. I love these Notable Missourians but some seem to stiffen up when I make the final art.
This rough shows Clark along with artist George Catlin visiting the imprisoned chief Black Hawk.
Another alternate rough showing Clark along with Prince Maximilian visiting the imprisoned Chief Black Hawk.
Rough sketch
William Clark spent much of his later years as an Indian Agent - basically someone who acted as a liaison between the native americans and the U.S. government. Its easy to look back at Indian Agents as bad guys but it should be noted that many of them such as Clark worked hard to make sure the natives weren't exploited or booted off their land during the explosion of western expansion. In fact, Clark lost a bid to be Governor of Missouri because his opponents painted him as too friendly with the Indians.
This illustration for the Notable Missourian book on William Clark shows Clark and other officials meeting with native american leaders for a treaty signing. The Notable MIssourian book series is published by Truman State University Press.
Alternate rough sketch
Another alternative rough showing Clark meeting with an tribal leader. I ended up using a version of this for the chapter 5 artwork.
The illustration for the 3rd chapter of the Notable Missourian book on William Clark shows Clark on his return from searching for a Northwest Passage to the Pacific.
The final art shows Clark taking notes while passing through the Yellowstone region (He didn't see any of the geothermal stuff)
Rough of final art
Here's an alternate rough showing Lewis and Clark returning successfully to St Louis.
Another rough showing Lewis and Clark's return to St Louis from a different POV.
This alternate rough shows the discovery crew quickly rowing with the river current and starting to pass signs they've re-entered civilization, such as a flatboat heading up-river. As one can imagine, the return trip going with the river current went much much MUCH faster than the outbound trip where they had to fight against the current all the way to the mountains of Montana.
Here's some cropped close ups of some Buck O'Neil illustrations currently being worked on..
What are these guys looking at?
One of the Homestead Grays makes a mad dash to first base. Where's Buck?
Here's the art for the 2nd chapter of the Notable Missourian book (Truman State University Press) on William Clark.
William Clark, Meriwether Lewis and their interpreter, Sacagawea, meet with Native American tribes on their journey up the Missouri.
Original rough sketch
Alternate rough sketch
Another alternate rough sketch showing the Discovery being pulled along the Missouri, as William Clark prepares to meet the local natives. In hindsight there are many things wrong with this illustration even as a sketch.
Okay, I know animated GIFs can be annoying but what the hell. Here is one that gives an idea of the process and edits that go into some of these Notable Missourian illustrations. This illustration is for the book on William Clark (Published by Truman State University Press). Here a young Clark is shown hunting with his slave and contemporary, York. York would later accompany Clark on his trip across the continent to explore the Louisiana Purchase and search for a Northwest Passage.
I've been Sketching up some roughs for a Notable Missourian book on Buck O'Neil. This is the one I just finished. It shows Buck while serving in the U.S. Navy getting the news that Jackie Robinson had entered the major leagues.
Close up of an illustration in progress. The subject is a young William Clark, before he gained notoriety by embarking on a mission of discovery with Meriwether Lewis.
At my agent's suggestion I got to throw my illustrator hat in the ring on a fun story that will go to press next year. (in other words I got to submit some rough sketches). The editor passed saying they didn't think my style was a fit with the story. That's a bummer because I think it would have been a lot of fun! This is another example of how a lot of good can come from a rejection. For one thing I figured out how I like to illustrate skeletons in a fun way. This is tricky, because as my niece pointed out, when one illustrates a small skeleton you run the risk of people thinking of a kid skeleton. Kid skeletons are a bummer if you think about it. Also if you get too anatomically correct with a skeleton it gets creepy. Now, a bit of creepy is great because it is a skeleton after all, but too much defeats the purpose of it being for a kids book. So it was a good problem solving lesson among other things. I'm thankful for the opportunity and I got a lot out of it.
Here are a few examples of the sketches I submitted. I left out some of my favorites because I don't want to reveal the plot before the book is out.
Self-rejected sketches need somewhere to quietly die. Why not here?
My beloved studio cat Skibbles just passed on. She was an old lady at 22 years old. I'll miss her smoker's meow and aggressive nuzzling. The studio won't be the same without her!
Here's the old lady, affectionately called "Pet Cemetery" by some of our friends. I'm talking about the cat, not my wife btw.
Organizing files and came across this sketchbook ink and wash made while in Puerto Rico a few years back. I still like it. Quite possibly because its cold and windy here and seeing this reminds me of sitting under a palm tree on the beach with a sketchbook.
So about a month ago Angela Kmeck and I gave a talk at a branch of the Kansas City, KS Public Library about our book "This Is Kansas City". After Angela gave a lively and fun reading of the book; it was my turn to talk. My talk went pretty awkwardly at first but I think I salvaged it thanks to a roll of carpenters paper and some crayons. I told the kids that we had lost a page from "This Is Kansas City" and we needed their help making a new one. All they had to do was draw their favorite thing about KC. They jumped right in and got after it!
I'm on board with this one! Coffee. I believe this was drawn by Kristen Howdeshell, one of the illustrators of "The Night the World Turned Royal Blue" whom were also speaking that evening.
Not shocking that my son's favorite thing about Kansas City is himself haha
I'm not sure if this is home or school but its great!
Cats were very popular.
Love this!
More Royals love!
I can look at this one for a long time. A lot going on! I love it.
Who doesn't love the Zoo? Its definitely a fav thing about KC.
Family was another popular "favorite"
This one is mine. See? Family!
This is my son, Henry's. I'm going to say he likes the tech aspect of KC. Albeit tech in the form of what he has at home.
This awesomeness was drawn by Kevin Howdeshell, one of the illustrators of "The Night the World Turned Royal Blue". It was great to get to meet that team!
Here's a fun rough from a project I'm working on.
Still playing around with these two guys. There's no context so I'm not sure if it makes anybody laugh but me.
Busy right now but not a lot I can currently share. In the meantime I'll keep dipping into the "sketchbook" for stuff to post.
Well its been a good holiday break! I've had some fulfilling travels, some good encounters with strangers, some lessons in humility, some uncomfortable moments with family and some near disasters involving backed up plumbing at the worst possible time. Disaster averted in case you're wondering. Anyways 2015 was a good year and I'm thankful for it.
So now on to 2016. And what do I start this year off with? Creepy skeletons! Explanation? Yes there is one!
In my spare time I've been playing around with these characters just to see where it goes.
I'm thankful for lots of stuff. My Family, health, sunny days, not strangling my kids, having enough toilet paper, pipes not leaking, leaf blowers not blowing, old cats not dying, old friends I neglect too much, new friends waiting to be neglected, good neighbors including the ones I'm strangely awkward around, interesting times, taco night, , sunglasses, kind strangers, words that have the letter z in them, electricity, perspective, regular doses of unsolicited humility, my dog coming to me when I call him (I'm about to test that one out), an awesome city to call home, etc etc.
Anyways in the spirit of the holiday of thankgivingness, here's a painting from several years back but its still one of my favs. Its supposed to be my late big bro playing piano while I played with my toys nearby. I would literally grab my toys and rush to the piano when I'd hear him start playing. It was like having a live music soundtrack to my imagination. Anyways super thankful for family and however much time we're granted with them!
This is still one of my favorites. Its the right panel of a two panel set. Each canvas is 2'x4'
Here's both canvases together showing my other brothers and a close family friend who is a de-facto bro.