Donation Art

I just wanted to throw this idea out there for those of you illustrators who want to do some fun projects on the side to build your portfolio or even to just keep yourself busy drawing. I love being able to do short projects in between illustrating books when the opportunities present themselves, which is why I wanted to mention donating your art. Making a donation of your art, whether it is for a charity, a friend, or a cause you really believe in can be beneficial and worth your time. Obviously it is always good to donate when you are able to do so, but as an illustrator sometimes it can be difficult because the time involved in creating a piece. It sounds good in theory but there never seems to be enough time. I highly suggest making the time for a couple of reasons:

1. You get the opportunity to illustrate something new that you can usually use in your portfolio once you have donated the piece.

2. You gain more exposure depending on who you are donating the piece to or for.

3. Any materials or time you spend working on the piece is a tax deduction.

4. And last, but not least, it is just simply a good thing to donate when you can.

I recently had the opportunity to create the cover for a dinner invitation for Family Supportive Housing's fundraiser in San Jose, CA this November. A very good friend of mine works for Family Supportive Housing and she asked me to do the cover for them. It was such a fun project to work on because I was able to work on something new that was a quick project for a great cause. For any of you who have the time or get the opportunity to donate their art, please do. It's always worth it, for both you and the place in which you are donating.

For more information about Family Supportive Housing please visit:

www.familysupportivehousing.org

Illustration Doodle

Character sketches for Blue.

A Garden for Pig

A Garden for Pig is out!! This is my new book that came out on September 1, 2010, written by the fabulous Kathryn Thurman. Please support your local independent bookstore and Kathryn and I, and pick up a copy today!!

Blog Neglect

I have been severely neglecting my blog, obviously. My last entry was over a year ago, which is just silly. And things have changed, for instance I don't even live in Boston anymore. I live in a very nice city outside Cleveland, called Lakewood. When I created this blog I wanted to write about bakeries and the amazing treats that I found trying different ones, but I would go eat sweets and then forget to post about them. I didn't feel like that was something I could keep up regularly either, mainly because I would probably be 400 pounds by now. So now I have a new plan: I want to write about the process of illustration since as a children's book illustrator it is pretty much what I do everyday. I have seen lots of illustration blogs, but not very many that actually talk about the process. How does a book get made once you sell your manuscript? What are the steps involved? I think it is important to pass that information along. No one ever really told me about what happens next until I was in the middle of the situation myself. Hopefully I will be able to successfully do this and keep this blog up regularly. I intend to write not only about the process of illustration, but also other random things along the way, such as what I am reading, and maybe even a bakery review or two.