Working with P.J. Funnybunny

 A new P.J. Funnybunny book was released this week. P.J. Funnybunny stories are written by my good friend, Marilyn Sadler. The book's characters were originally created by Roger Bollen. The P.J. Funnybunny books are adored by fans around the globe. 

I first met Marilyn and Roger, in 1989. I was getting started as a children's book illustrator and they had been very successful in publishing with several of their characters, including P.J. Funnybunny. Roger was also a popular comic strip artist with his syndicated Animal Crackers strip.

I have always tried to learn from the best, so I arranged a trip to their home. With portfolio in hand, I traveled to Cleveland and spent an afternoon with Marilyn and Roger, hoping some of their success would rub off on me. It was a great trip and they were extremely kind and generous with their time. Roger mentioned that he was thinking of stepping back from his strip, Animal Crackers, to focus on other projects. He asked if I had an interest in possibly helping with the strip. I was stunned. I had not anticipated such a huge opportunity and wasn't sure what to say. I was just starting my children's book journey and realized that a commitment to a comic strip would be very time consuming so I humbly declined.

 In recent years, I've had the chance to work with Marilyn on some of her other projects. Roger Bollen died in 2015.

Fast forward to the present. Marilyn mentioned that her publisher was interested in producing more P.J. Funnybuny books because of a renewed interest in the characters. I asked if I could submit samples and be considered for the project. Even though cartooning wasn't what I had been currently doing, I have a long history of cartooning, starting from the very beginning when I was a kid. My cartoon style is very similar to what Roger was doing so it wasn't a long stretch to consider the project. I created some samples and sent them to Marilyn. I tried to be as true to Roger's style as I could. The character of his line and the colors that he chose. All the while, thinking of the Animal Crackers opportunity that had come and gone, years ago.

When Marilyn and the publisher seemed very pleased with my art samples, I felt like I had come pretty close to the spirit of Roger's work. In an unexpected way, it almost seemed like I had come full circle to help Roger, not with Animal Crackers but with P.J. Funnybunny.

 

New CARDS AND STICKERS...from the dog!

Bow...WOW!!

I just got this email with one of my newest doggies on the cover. Check out the newest cards and stickers... FROM THE DOG. You'll find the dogs, here.

This is from a recent sale email which expires soon, so click over there and get 'em, soon!

So, if you are a dog lover, greeting card lover or a Tim Bowers lover (wait...forget that last one), you'll want to pick up some of these cards. The prices are dog-gone GREAT!

...I heard that FROM THE DOG.

Bloom where you are planted.

Twenty years ago, I decided to build an art studio. I was inspired by a drawing of Norman Rockwell's studio (in one of his books) and started with that basic idea. I wanted a great working space, tall ceilings, natural north light during the day and plenty of good lighting to use for the all-nighters. Lots of shelf space for books and storage for whatever else I picked up as inspiration.

I made a cardboard, to scale model of the building and put it on the driveway, near the spot where we planned to build. That gave me a good idea of how the daylight would come through the windows. I gave my cardboard model to a local builder and they drew the plans to build the structure, next to the house.

I've worked in a variety of spaces and this was, by far, the best place to work. Not all of my best work was created in that studio but it was a really nice place to use for those twenty years. There were some really beautiful sunsets behind the studio. In the winter, I didn't have to drive to work but I had to shovel a path to the studio door before I could start painting.

We recently moved and my new studio is in a different space. A much different surrounding but I will fill it with things that inspire me, make sure the lighting is good and start anew. There are plenty of ideas, waiting to be painted. New stories to be crafted and opportunities to grab ahold of. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Here's to the new adventure, the next chapter... 2018 will be a great year!

Some SWEET artwork is baking at the studio.

Here's another "chef" painting that I recently completed. I took a couple of pics while putting together this illustrative recipe.

It's funny to think that baking is a lot like painting. I mix and choose the right tools to work with...

apply some juicy textures...

and add the final touches... yum!

Here's a delicious detail of some of that sweet texture. Acrylic on gessoed board.

Back to the drawing board. -T.

Bowers ART goes to the kitchen.

I've got a few children's book projects that I'm currently working on but wanted to show some other art that I've been cooking up. I created a series of chef paintings. Here are a few in progress images.

As usual, I start with some sketchbook ideas. Here is the pasta chef, the wine chef and the dessert chef in the early sketch phase.

I tape the edges, gesso (with thick strokes using a large brush) the pieces of Bristol board and transfer the sketches onto the textured surface.

Work on the background and paint the checkerboard border.

Then, focus on the character, letting a lot of the texture show from the underpainting.

Here's a detail. I love to create texture, allowing different colors to peek through the top layers of paint.  So, there, you have it! My recipe for some fun kitchen art. Of course, you may need some reference for this one...maybe a bottle of Cabernet...or two.

NEXT TIME: It's that time of year to start another Bluesfest painting. Update to come.

Bowers Blogs about Buddy's Bedtime Battery.

A new book just hit the shelves, last week. Buddy's Bedtime Battery by Chirstina Geist (published by Random House) is my latest book and I want to take you behind the pages to see how the project progressed.

It's always exciting to get the first printed books in the mail. After months of a studio full of art boards in progress, wet paint and gallons of coffee (not part of the painting process but very necessary), the final product is a welcome payoff. Buddy finally arrived!

  

Now, let's look at how Buddy arrived. After reading the story manuscript and creating sketches for the characters, a full length book dummy was created. When the book sketches were finalized, the painting process began. 

I created a production line of boards with images of each page. I taped the edges with low-tac tape to keep that area clean and white. Then, an underpainting with brown acrylic paint was washed (thin layers) onto the boards. I usually do this when the final art is created with oil paint. The acrylic and polymer layers sealed the paper board from the oils and gave me a good (light and dark) value study to follow.

At this stage, the studio was full of artwork covering every flat space to be found. I have a drying rack for storing work in progress but I like to see everything laid, side by side.

     

Here is the title page. The towel area on the left was used for copyright and publishing information. The title was placed on the wall, above the bathtub. Notice the pajamas are visible, just below the towel. I often use elements and story props to hint at what's coming on the following page(s).

Here is one of the illustration spreads. One of my favorite images of the book.

This was my table, somewhere under the shingles of drying illustrations. The images were at various stages of completion so Buddy's hair looks really dark on the bottom image, etc. I worked on several paintings at a time and all art started to finalize toward the end of the process....which is also called..."the deadline" (If all goes as planned). It was a fairly long process and sometimes hard to see the end when spending days painting little parts, adjusting colors and adding detail. But eventually, it all came together and a package with the final art of Buddy's Bedtime Battery traveled to Random House. 

Buddy's Bedtime Battery reading

Then, months later, I get to see the book on NBC, being read to millions of TV viewers. How COOL is that? So exciting! ...So surreal! ...Yay, Buddy! 

...deep breath...now, back to the drawing board. :)

PUT ON YOUR DANCIN' SHOES!

One of my newest projects is to illustrate a book, written by Kenny Loggins. He re-wrote the song, FOOTLOOSE, as a kids song and the book will have a CD in the back so readers can read along, follow the story with illustrations and dance to this great Kenny Loggins song.

Acrylic paint on a gessoed bristol board. 

Here are two finished interior pages.

















Here is the final art for the cover and end papers. The CD (FOOTLOOSE song) will be placed where the moon is positioned, inside the back cover. So, the moon will be the CD.

The new song sounds great. Kenny did a fantastic job of adding a kid spin to the original version. This is a lot of fun but I have a hard time painting, while dancing. Believe me, you'll be putting on your dancin' shoes, too!

BEEP! It's a studio, full of wet paint.

Here is a sneak preview of my newest book, in progress. The title is BEEP! It's Bedtime by Christina Geist, to be published by RandomHouse.  Like many of my other books, I started with an underpainting in acrylic paint, followed by a couple of coats of matte medium. Then it's time to slap on the ole' oil paint.

Each book project requires about twenty pieces of art and some of them are very time consuming if there is much detail involved. A book takes several months of work and somewhere in the middle of the process, I start to feel a little overwhelmed. I usually paint in a production line sort of way, mixing a few colors and hitting several paintings with that paint.

Back and forth, from one painting to the next. Hours turn into days and days, into months. I'm lucky to know what year it is. Anyway, I'm getting close to the finish on this book and all of the paintings that seemed incomplete for so long, are now starting to come together.

I'll show more when everything is finished.

By the way, it is still 2015, right?

Hello, Dolly!

I just received a letter from Dolly Parton. One of my books, Not Your Typical Dragon has been selected for the 2015 edition of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program in the US and Candada. 

This is so cool! They get selected books into the hands of thousands of kids. What a great service! Dolly Parton ...thank YOU for inspiring children to "Dream More, Learn More, Care More & Be More"...SA-LUTE!

Pirate's take over studio...

Here’s a peek at my newest picture book.

Sketch for cover design.

Detail of cover art in progress.

I recently finished a new book, Pirate’s Lullaby- Mutiny at Bedtime, written by Marcie Wessels (Doubleday Books for Young Readers, 2015).

Here are a few early pics of the process…sketches, etc.

Pencil sketches for pirate boy character.

Sketches for pirate dad character.

Very rough pirate heads for reference (super sculpey).

Pirate head in different positions and lighting.

More heads in different positions and lighting.

A final illustration spread with reference sheets.

Everything is started but a lot of painting ahead. Oil paint on canvas (acrylic underpainting).

I can’t wait until next year’s Talk Like a Pirate Day.

BULLY ALERT!

Another school year is starting, which usually means that the classroom bully is back in business. This can put a damper on the school year for some unfortunate students. But, here are two examples of bravery that come to mind.

First, an illustration from my college days, illustrating the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was a big bully, for sure.

David and Goliath (or, Dave and John)

This is an illustration that I painted, using my room-mates as models. They were both, excellent artists and good sports, when it came to posing for reference pictures. When an art student is pulling an all-night, last minute rush to complete something for class, class-mates become excellent reference material (many thanks to Dave Groff and John Jude Palencar for this one).

I'm not condoning violence or the sling shot response but it did work out pretty good for David. Nobody likes a bully.

The other example of bravery is Knuckleball Ned, who stands up to the bullies and saves the day in one of my newest books, published by Dial Books for Young Readers.

The story was written by R. A. Dickey.

Overview:

Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey creates a funny anti-bullying picture book with an adorable baseball character that kids will love
    
Ned the baseball is very nervous on his first day of school. Everyone else seems to know where they belong, but not Ned. He isn’t a fastball or a slider, and the Foul Ball gang makes fun of him for the way he wobbles. When they do something particularly dastardly to another student, it’s up to Ned to come to the rescue with his unique abilities. Not only does Ned realize he’s a knuckleball, but he discovers that he can be a hero, too!

The Foul Ball gang.

Knuckleball Ned saves the day!

So, here's to the little guy, the pushed around kid, the student who "wobbles"... 

there's a brighter day, ahead. Be brave, be yourself and hang in there!

... (wobbling) back to the drawing board.