Picture Book Studio

Pansies Stand for Thoughts

In celebration of Mother's Day, here is a design of pansies. In greeting card world

the image of pansies would be used many a time on cards with a sentiment that expressed that someone was thinking of that recipient.

How appropiated are pansies as we think of all the wonderful things that our Moms did for us...those things that at the time seemed small, but as we grew older, we realized they were much larger as we came to understand their sacrifice.

So for all those Moms out there, these thoughts of appreciation are for you.

Happy Mother's Day!

B is for Butterfly

C is for Cal the Curious Carp

As spring rolls in, I have been busy thinking up and illustrationg new letters. All this as I get ready to do the Spring Fling in the town where I grew up in New Jersey. Nothing like a little pressure!

A is for Anteater

Years ago while I was still working as a designer at American Greetings, I started a blog called Picture Diary. This was a result of a work goal to get web savy as well as to have a creative web presence.

The only problem of doing this was American Greeting designers could not post any current or unpublished work associated with American Greetings. So I had to come up with a different idea. I picked a square format.  Due to decades of designing and illustrating in a rectangle, a square was quite refreshing!  At first my designs were random, but then as I was exploring the type tool in Photoshop with all those glorious fonts, I started to play with illustrating letters.

I began with Z and worked my way backward. Finally after 19 months I got to finish with the letter A. Then it was back to random illustrations. Still, I get the urge to illustrate another letter from time to time.

"A is for Anteater" is my fourth illustration of the letter A.

Each time it gets to be more of a challenge. Some letters are even more challenging then others and just give me a headache. But then who knows, maybe I will start with a different approach to the letters in the alphabet.

That is what makes it fun.

P is for Poppy

There are times when one returns to an illustration to take a second look. That was the case for me with a design I illustrated in 2011 as shown below.

The Letter P (2011)

Sometimes, just like rearranging the living room furniture, one desires a fresh look.  So it was for me with the letter P. The black makes it far more dramatic, and the color scheme pulls together better. I even decided to redesign the blossom. That is the nice thing about working in the digital world. To fix something that bugs you, you don't have to work from scratch. I have done this before with another letter which gave it far more sales appeal. It will be interesting to see what happens when I introduce this new version to my shows this year.

I confess, I am a cat lover. I miss my cat, who after 19 years, succumbed to old age and left this world. I have had many cats in my lifetime. Some who where even good with the birds I had. This illustration is sort of a tribute to all of them. After several sketches, I finally committed to doing this illustration.

The Visitors

For your enjoyment.

S is for Squirrel

Every time I do a show, I figure it is time to broaden some of my letter selections. Although illustrating a snake would seem to be the obvious, the squirrel with strawberries seemed more like an interesting challenge. Besides, squirrels are cuter.

Reflection of a Promise

Cleveland winters are usually filled with gray skies and snow, however it is a great time to come up with new illustrations while house bound by the weather.

Here is my latest illustration where the image tells a story.

Wishing you all a blessed and happy new year!

H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R !