Matilda Turnip sketches 4

Here are two of the five or so submitted cover ideas for the Matilda book.

Max, King of the Wild Things

There's no way my wife will ever have her own blog to brag about the creative stuff she's done (and there's plenty).
So, I'll take this time to do it for her.
After balking at the cheap quality, limited selection and top shelf prices of this year's costumes, Mindy came up with the idea of Sam being Max from Where the Wild Things Are, one of our favorite books. Really, one of most everybody's favorite books. So, in two days she and her Mom created from an existing monkey costume pattern, Max's wolf costume. She decided to make it look like the illustrated version more than the film version. The end result is both precious and perfect.
Sadly, and as we predicted, most of the neighborhood recognized Sam to be a rabbit and/or a lamb. Obviously... not a bunch of readers. Not even readers of a nearly 50 year old, best selling, mostly illustrated, nine sentenced book. Yikes.
Anyway, hope you all enjoy.

Matilda Turnip sketches 3

When I was first offered the book, the publishers wanted to see how I was going to handle objects coming out of a little girl's belly button.
Above is the result...

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Wags and Elliott CD volume 16

Many thanks to Dan Orr for the third opportunity to illustrate the cover for QFM 96.3's Best of Wags and Elliott CD!! It'll be available in the coming weeks. I'll post more when I know more.

Matilda Turnip sketches 2

Here's another set of Matilda doodles I did to show a little emotion.

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Matilda Turnip sketches 1

Meet Matilda and her dalmatian mouse Rourke. He's sickly.
These were the character sketches I sent Silverline Books to show them how I'd handle the characters. More later.

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Matilda Turnip's Endless Belly Button!

So, the cat's out of the bag. Finally. I've been dying to post something about what I'm currently working on. It's a children's book for Silverline Books called Matilda Turnip's Endless Belly Button, written by Bethany James Leigh Shady. This is the cover.

Here's the summary:
Matilda Turnip lives a boring, unloved life with her mother Orla in a tiny Irish town whose population is made up mostly of grazing sheep. But one day, she finds that her belly button is a magical portal that exciting items have begun emerging from! Each item takes her on a new adventure where she meets new friends and eventually comes to an island where she is pleasantly surprised by someone from her past.