Snowing in July at Bowers Studio

A box of chilly dogs arrived on my doorstep, last week.  Well, kinda.  My next book, Snow Dog, Go Dog by Deborah Heiligman (published by Two Lions/Amazon Children's Publishing) will be released on September 3 and features the lovable Tinka.

Here is the description on Amazon:

Snow doesn't stop the Golden Retriever, Tinka. She runs and plays and sleds with her boy. But when her friend Millie the beagle shows up, off races Tinka. And she gets lost -- till her boy finally rescues her. A companion to Fun Dog, Sun Dog and School Dog, Cool Dog.

The artwork was painted with acrylic paint on a gessoed surface. I love to get lots of texture on these images and brushing a layer of thick gesso helps me get there. I always feel that I can loosen up a bit with this technique. 

I've been thinking about baseball, lately. No, I'm not playing but I've been working on my knuckleball and will pitch you the details, soon.  

Well, back to the drawing board...gotta get into the blues mood. The Hot Licks Bluesfest is just around the corner.

Bowers makes Time...

Earlier this year, I worked on an assignment from Time For Kids magazine. It was a cover illustration for the March 22, 2013 issue and the only piece of art that I've documented on film, from start to finish.  I like the idea of showing a painting in progress and I'm sure that I'll try it again. This is my first attempt. 

 Here's a link to the video.

Hamster-mania at Bowers studio...

New books just arrived…YAHOO!!

Memoirs of a Hamster by Devin Scillian is being published by Sleeping Bear Press. It follows our first collaboration, Memoirs of a Goldfish (2010).

Here’s a description of the story:

Night 1 / My life is perfect. / I have a bowl full of seeds, a cozy pile of wood shavings, and room to run. / I'm never leaving here. / Question: Who's the luckiest hamster in the world? / Answer: ME! Seymour the hamster has the perfect life. He has a spacious cage, a constant food supply, and a FuzzyBoy 360 exercise wheel that lets him run to his heart's content. Life could not be better. Or could it? When Pearl the cat tells Seymour of the goodies beyond the safe confines of his cage, he starts to think he's missing out. And out is the new in! It's only after Seymour is out of his cage that he begins to fully appreciate his safe and cozy home.

The illustrations were done in acrylic on watercolor board. 

I think I’ll start my own memoir…

Day 1- 

I received two boxes of freshly printed books. Who’s the luckiest illustrator in the world? Answer: Me!

…now, back to the drawing board. 

Look Ma, I'm a movie star!

I've been playing around with the ole' video camera and put together a couple of art videos for practice. I intend to create some painting demos and book trailers if I can figure out what the heck I'm doing. 

Here are my first award winning videos. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd2IIH6xIOE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEaIlc9zROE

And I've been using songs that I created a few years ago (thanks to garageband) as soundtracks...so they aren't exactly fitting for these videos but I used them, anyway. I'll work on new music to go along with the new videos...in my spare time.

That's all for now...back to the painting.

Not Your Typical New Book...

My newest children’s book hit the shelves, last week. Not Your Typical Dragon by Dan Bar-el, published by Viking Juvenile.

Not Your Typical Dragon-cover

Here’s a description of the book:

Everybody knows your typical dragon breathes fire.

But when Crispin tries to breathe fire on his seventh birthday, fire doesn't come out—only whipped cream! Each time Crispin tries to breathe fire, he ends up with

Band-Aids

marshmallows

teddy bears?

Crispin wonders if he’ll ever find his inner fire. But when a family emergency breaks out, it takes a little dragon with not-so-typical abilities to save the day.

Happy Birthday, Crispin!

A birthday surprise...

The parents are a bit concerned but the little sister is fine with the outcome…she likes whipped cream.

Mr. Blaze (Dad) takes Crispin to the Doc for help.

I dedicated this book to Betsy and Jeff Woytovich who started an organization called The Children’s Alopecia Project (C.A.P.).

About alopecia-

Alopecia is an autoimmune disease that is not life threatening, but is life altering. It is not contagious. You can't catch it and it does not hurt. It is almost like your body is allergic to hair, which causes it to fall out.

Mission (C.A.P.)-

The Mission of the Children's Alopecia Project is to help any child in need living with hair loss due to all forms of alopecia.

For children, living with this condition can be difficult. Being teased, bullied and receiving hurtful comments are common among kids with alopecia. I hope that more awareness and understanding will help the situation and make the lives of many of these kids, a bit easier. To me, this story is about discovering the  special uniqueness and seeing the good in every “not your typical” dragon…and child.

I really enjoyed working on this book. The character's proportions were fun to play around with and the big buggy eyes added a bit more humor. These paintings were done in acrylic on illustration board. An earlier post describes the acrylic painting technique that I usually use.

That's all for now...back to the paint.

It's a ZOO around here!

Cover

A box of freshly printed copies of Maestro Stu Saves the Zoo arrived on my doorstep, yesterday.  I’m extremely happy with the way this book printed. It has a matte finish dust jacket and the artwork was scanned so that the canvas texture and painted brushstrokes can be seen in just the right amount. 

Stu, dreaming of the place he loved best.

Stu has an idea...

The story is full of animals, from cover to cover. One of the animals, seen throughout the book is a squirrel monkey. My grandfather (Mom’s dad) had a squirrel monkey named Joe-Joe.  It was a real treat to visit their house when I was a boy. Each time I painted the monkey in this book, I thought of Joe. I’m also thinking about how childhood memories and experiences seem to weave through our lives in unexpected ways.

Maestro Stu Saves the Zoo by Denise Brennan-Nelson, published by Sleeping Bear Press. 

Here’s Denise with a little introduction to the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_6ANTf9j_s

Well, back to the drawing board...

The Blues are Back!

Final poster (11"x17").

The annual Hot Licks Bluesfest returns to Ganville, Ohio in September. I’ve created artwork for the festival poster in the past and it’s one of my favorite projects of the year. It’s a full day of great music in the heart of a beautiful little village and when you combine music and art, I’m on board!

The end of June and first part of July was lost to a storm in the area. My work schedule was really messed up and the Bluesfest poster deadline was approaching (I think that could inspire a blues song, like- Couldn’t Stand the Weather…oops, that one’s taken).

Anyway, I only had a couple of days to create some blues art magic and thought I’d share some project details.

I usually like to include something in the art that reflects that year’s headliner, or bands. If the main band is guitar driven, I go with a guitar. If it’s harp, I try to include a harp player, and so on. This year, the headliner is the hot, hot band from Chicago-land, Funky Mojodaddy. As I researched the other bands in the line-up, the flash of Sean Carney caught my eye.  Carney is an excellent musician and performer. I pulled some pics of Sean for reference. The guy has an extremely cool jacket, trimmed with a leopard print…that’s where I started. 

 Pencil sketch.

Final illustration (acrylic on board).

He’s very animated on stage, so that became perfect inspiration for the poster layout. To get away from the photo reference, I took parts (hands, head, guitar, legs, etc.) from various pics and photo-shopped them together. I enlarged parts, stretched parts and came up with a photo-collage that became my final reference image. The legs and shoes in the reference were actually from a pic of guitar player, Chuck Berry. They worked perfectly with Sean’s cool jacket.  Then, I did a pencil sketch from the Franken-sean photo-collage.

Working on the final art with Franken-sean reference.

The festival goes into the night, so I thought of a starry night as a background…plus the movement of the brushstrokes would add more energy to the final art.

If you are in the central Ohio area, stop by Granville for a great Blues festival. I just hope we can “stand the weather”…pray for a starry night!