Not in Harry's Name! Chocolate Frog Card #7

Whoa, last week when I posted about these new Chocolate Frog cards, I somehow forgot to mention that these are once again available in the Harry Potter Alliance shop!  You can get milk or dark chocolate, and you'll get one wizarding card from my new set of illustrations.  Maybe you'll get Fred and George!

If you can't tell, this one was a lot of fun to draw.  Professor Umbridge is probably my least favorite character in the Harry Potter series, so it was fun getting to draw Fred and George wreaking havoc during the O.W.L.s!

Next week: Professor McGonagall!

Not in Harry's Name! Chocolate Frog Card #6

Earlier this year, one of my favorite organizations, The Harry Potter Alliance hired me to illustrate a new set of Chocolate Frog Cards that they printed up for this year's Leaky Con.  This all ties in to their Not in Harry's Name! campaign.  I thought I'd post one a week for the rest of this year, to ease us into 2014.

The HPA asked me to focus specifically on members of the Order of the Phoenix this time around, so I started off with one of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood!  This is the scene where the new issue of the Quibbler comes out, with Harry's cover story.  I tried to load this image with as much detail as possible.

Next week: Fred and George!

Highlights Hidden Pictures #1

I don't think my family ever had a subscription to Highlights Magazine when I was a kid, but I definitely remember reading it at every single one of my dentist appointments growing up.  My favorite feature was always the "Hidden Picture" challenge, where you'd look through a large illustration to find lots of little drawings hidden inside.

Well, imagine my delight, earlier this year, when Highlights got in touch and asked me to draw some hidden pictures for them!  I did five of these before things got hectic with my big book project, and the first one arrived in the mail the other day.  It's always a thrill to see my work in print!

This Highlights: Eagle-Eye Hidden Pictures book is cover-to-cover hidden pictures, so if that is your kind of thing, than this book is for you!  My drawing was for the "Gaby's Journal" feature, in which a little girl named Gaby travels around the USA with her family, seeing cool landmarks and roadside attractions.

If you see one of these magazines, pick it up!  The next string of issues should have some illustrations by yours truly, and hopefully I'll do some more of these in the future!

Deadline - met!

Tonight I finished up the big illustration project that I have been working on for the last four months.  On the day I started it, I made this chart, which is something I always do for my comics projects.  It helps me keep track of how much work there is left to do and makes it easy for me to see whether or not I'm going to finish on time.  For this chart I had to pencil all 210 illustrations (the steep line on the left) and then ink all of them (the steep line on the right).  Luckily, it all worked out and I finished exactly on time.  My comics charts almost never look this tidy.

Anyway, now that it's all over, I'm looking forward to my life getting back to normal.  I've got a pile of neglected projects that need some attention, including this blog!  I'm going to try and finish off 2013 with some weekly posts about the various illustration projects I did this year which I have not shared with you guys yet.  I'm not allowed to talk about the top secret project shown in the chart above, but as soon as I'm allowed to, I will!

Busy busy!

Hello, illustration friends!  I thought I'd quickly check in to explain the lack of recent updates on this site.  Ironically, I am working harder than I ever have before on illustration.  I'm currently working on my biggest project yet, but it is top secret (literally! I had to sign a big scary "non disclosure agreement") so I can't tell you guys about it just yet.  As soon as I can, I will!

I've also been very busy working on the Basewood Kickstarter campaign, which continues until September 28th.  Readers of this blog probably remember Basewood from the many posts I wrote about its cover design.  If anyone is interested in owning a copy of the finished book, now is a great time to put in a pre-order.

Thanks for your patience and I'll post again as soon as I have something I'm allowed to share!