Favorite things about KC

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!

Monster Catch

Here's a fun rough from a project I'm working on.

Dinosaur Identification

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. 

Back to it

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! 

Something different.

In my spare time I've been playing around with these characters just to see where it goes.

Thanksgiving

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.

Beware the sock stealing robot

Where do missing socks go?  My 4 year old son blames robots.

This is a sketch for something I'm playing around with.  It actually has nothing to do with sock stealing robots.  Well, it didn't but now I'm not so sure.

Albert Bond Lambert and Charles Lindbergh

This illustration is for the Notable MIssourian book on Albert Bond Lambert by Christopher Lynch and published by Truman State University Press.

Albert Bond Lambert was one of the first investors to help Charles Lindbergh finance his famous aircraft, The Spirit of St Louis.  By investing early and investing a lot, Lambert made it easier for Lindbergh to attract other investors as well.  Its old hat nowadays but back then LIndbergh's attempt at a non-stop solo flight across the atlantic - something that had never been done - was akin to a moonshot.

Rough Sketch

What's better than motorcycles and balloons?

Answer:  Many things depending on who you are!  Maybe its ice cream, or bungee jumping, or quiet walks on the beach, or doing crossword puzzles in the bathroom.  But if you were Albert Bond Lambert, the answer to that question would be airplanes!  Albert loved adventure from his youth on.  He first satisfied his thirst for adventure with motorcycling.  That gave way to ballooning. Once the Wright Bros proved the viability of the fixed wing aircraft, Albert was immediately intrigued.  He took lessons and bought himself a Wright brothers built aircraft.  Not only did this become a hobby of his, but as a business man he could see how airplanes were going to change the world.  Thus (yes...i said thus) he became a major investor in aviation and aviation infrastructure.  I hear he also still really enjoyed doing crossword puzzles in the bathroom though.  Some old hobby's are hard to let go.

The illustration below is for the Notable Missourian book on Albert Bond Lambert.  This book was written by Christopher Lynch and published by Truman State University Press.

Albert flying a Wright Model B

Balloony!

Here is another  illustration for the Notable Missourian book on Albert Bond Lambert, written by Christopher Lynch and published by Truman State University Press.

Before there were airplanes or dirigibles, balloons were the way to experience flying.  The problem with flying a balloon is you're totally at the mercy of the air.  You go where the wind blows you.  Of course this made it exciting too. Albert Bond Lambert, ever the adventurer, spent much of his time flying and racing balloons.  In fact some people thought he spent so much time with his gas filled hobby that he was neglecting his job as a city counsilman. 

The more I think about it, "balloon race" is a bit of a misnomer as it was more about distance then getting somewhere first. How far would they go?  Well, one time Albert and his fellow aeronaut H.E. Honeywell packed two fried chickens, twelve sandwiches, water and a thermos of coffee....so they clearly planned to be aloft for awhile. They landed almost 20 hours after takeoff in Tiger, Georgia - 450 miles away from where they started in St Louis.

Evan's Evans

So Evan wanted to paint.  I asked him who the figures are supposed to be and he said "Those are both Evans!"   Lets analyze this and make sure he didn't draw stick figures and call them "Evans" after the fact.  Head fused to torso, check.  Crazy hair literally floating above skull, check. Unevenly sized "Bill the cat" eyes, check.  A line possibly indicating a massive underwear skid mark, Check.  Yes, these are very accurate Evan likenesses indeed.  Well done lad.

Seriously though I really do love the one on the left.

Albert Bond Lambert

Here are the first two illustrations for the Notable Missourian book on Albert Bond Lambert. The Notable Missourian books are published by Truman State University Press. This book (on Albert Bond Lambert) was written by Christopher Lynch.

Albert Bond Lambert was an Olympic golfer, an adventurer, and perhaps most importantly a strong supporter and benefactor to early aviation. Here are the first two chapter header illustrations showing young Albert, One shows him as a young golfer (He was on the U.S. olympic team) and the other shows Albert riding through France on an early motorcycle. Albert loved motorcylces, but that love was soon replaced by aviation.

Albert riding an early motorcycle through the french countryside

rough sketch

rough sketch

Jeffrey Deroine settles down

This is the chapter 5 header illustration for the Notable Missourian book on Jeffrey Deroine.  

Jeffrey lead a remarkable life.  He was a slave for a fur trapper, gained his freedom and became an interpreter for the Ioway nation, travelled the world with the Ioway, and ultimately was able to purchase some land and settle down.  

This illustration is for the Notable MIssourian book on Jeffrey Deroine, published by Truman State University Press.

Rough sketch

Final art

Whoops I skipped this one...

This is the chapter 3 art for the Notable Missourian book (Truman State University Press) on Jeffery Deroine.   Here Jeffery is shown witnessing a treaty between the Ioway nation and the U.S. federal government.  

Jeffrey and the Ioway tour Europe

As a slave child, Jeffrey Deroine probably couldn't have imagined that one day he would visit Europe as a free man and rub elbows with some of the world's most powerful people. He was there as an interpreter for his friends the Ioway (most notably, Chief White Cloud) while they toured the continent with the painter George Catlin.

This illustration is for the book on Jeffrey Deroine, published by Truman State University Press.

Final art

1st version - can you spot the differences?

Rough sketch

Using the court to seek freedom

Slavery must've been such a confusing institution, filling people with all kinds of cognitive dissonance. I should probably follow that up with a hearty "Duh". In reading the manuscript for the Notable Missourian story about Jeffrey Deroine, I was surprised to read how Jeffrey tried to use the court system to gain his freedom from his owner, Joseph Robidoux. I didn't know that was possible.

At the time Jeffrey was still a minor, so a family friend posing as his grandmother went with him to the courthouse to file the paperwork. The grounds for the case was the excessive cruelty of his master. Apparently there had been cases where a slave could be freed if the court deemed the master was too cruel.  That automatically makes me wonder what would constitute just the right amount of cruelty when it comes to owning another human being?  Ugh, so strange.  Anyways it's no shocker that Jeffrey's case was dismissed - In large part thanks to Joseph Robidoux's standing in the community and strong connections. Jeffrey remained the slave of Robidoux until his freedom was purchased by his friends in the Ioway nation.

This illustration is for the book on Jeffrey Deroine, published by Truman State University Press.

Young Jeffrey and a woman posing as his grandma filing paperwork seeking his freedom.

Young Jeffrey Deroine - a gifted communicator

This was my favorite Notable Missourian book to illustrate out of the 2015 series.  Jeffrey Deroine was a fascinating guy.  Born a slave, Jeffrey had a natural gift for language.  As a teen he was owned by a fur trapper who used Jeffrey's communication skills to negotiate trades with native peoples such as the Ioway tribe.  Starting with simple exchanges such as these, Jeffrey and the Ioway would form a strong friendship.  A friendship that would ultimately help Jeffrey to become a free man, travel the world, and own property - very rare things for a former slave during the early 19th century.  

This illustration is for the Notable Missourian book on Jeffrey Deroine, published by Truman State University Press.

Young Jeffrey Deroine interpreting for his fur-trapper master.

The Rest of Alphonso

Things are a bit hectic and I'm behind on posts so I'm going to post the rest of Alphonso all at once.  Alphonso was a fascinating guy who continued to have a life full of adventures worth writing about even after he lost his arm in the War of 1812.

These illustrations are for the Notable Missourian book about Alphonso Wetmore, written by Mary Barile and published by Truman State University Press.

Alphonso riding to a fort to bring the soldiers their pay

Alphonso on the Santa Fe Trail recording the days adventures.

Alphonso writing his memoirs or some fiction or maybe a grocery list in his St Louis office.

The Phonz, Chapter 2

This is the Chapter 2 illustration for Notable Missourian Alphonso Wetmore.  Its a bit busy, but as my editor said, "War is busy".  I think I might be paraphrasing that badly, but still it seems accurate.

Anyways the subject of this is the The Battle of Queenston Heights, a pivotal battle in the War of 1812.  

The Notable Missourian book about Alphonso Wetmore written by Mary Barile and published by Truman State University Press.

Rough sketch of an alternate version