Is it That Time of the Year Again?

Even though we are still months away from the official start of the holiday season, I actually took it upon myself to be proactive this year. And NO, I'm not talking about pre-shopping and scoping out all the big deals and sales, or figuring out what presents to get family and friends, oh no, but more importantly, I just finished my last promo piece of the year early!

And that is a far cry from my norm, which is to procrastinate til the eleventh hour and then in a state of panic, try to whip up something that looks halfway decent. Anyway enough talk, here's the art.

Here's my initial sketch. Not much was changed from the final except for the addition of the ornament on the reindeer's nose. I thought it was a nice touch. Rudolph would be so proud.

This is the inspiration behind my illustration. Really early on, I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to approach my color palette. I came across this illustration by Scott Gustafson (one of my favorite illustrators) and was enamored by the contrast in the warm light against the cooler moonlight. He was able to create a night scene with such warmth and richness to it, I really wanted to recreate some of that same feel in my own illustration. 

At the Show

This past Friday, I attended the opening reception for the CCA Faculty/Alumni Illustration Show. There was a lot of really amazing artwork on display, about 50 pieces, so it was a big show! I was honored to be invited to contribute my work. The show runs til the 27th of this month, and is open to the public...definitely worth checking out!

For the show, I had a print made of my possum illustration!

When Worlds Collide!

I have two main hobbies in my life. One is illustration(well it's a bit more than a hobby) and the other is dragon boat paddling. Rarely, if ever, do these two worlds intersect, however this past weekend at the San Francisco Dragon Boat Festival, these two did in a rather serendipitous way...

Inbetween races at this two day event, there was some downtime, And so, we had a bit of free time to explore the various vendors at this festival. And when my wife mentioned that there was a children's book publisher selling books, she insisted I go and check it out, an so I did.

That publisher was Immedium (www.immedium.com). So there I was, still sopping wet from being just out in the water and I found myself talking shop with Oliver Chin, who authored several of the books on display. He was a really nice guy and we bought a couple autographed books for my son. I even got a chance to show him some of my work and passed along one of my postcards.

Moral of my story...be prepared and keep your eyes open, cause you never know when an opportunity will present itself.
  

Here I am with Oliver Chin, the author of Timmy & Tammy's Train of Thought. He was gracious enough to sign us a copy. It was a big hit with my son who is obsessed with trains!

CCA Biennial Faculty/Alumni Illustration Program Show

I was honored to be invited to participate in this show celebrating the CCA Illustration department. I'm finding it a bit surreal to not only be asked, but to find myself back where it all started, a decade later. Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to seeing all the wonderful artwork. If you find yourself in the city on the 20th, please come check out the show!