Tomi Ungerer and a bunny.

For your pleasure: Tomi Ungerer and a bunny.

Happy 2015!!

2014 was wonderful. Now, on to the next great adventure.

#tinydrawing

I tried to move my blog to tumblr, but instead it turned in to this thing where I post very small drawings, daily-ish. It's called tinydrawing. You can also find a lot of them on my Instagram account, here.

Macalester Today

My alumni magazine did an article about the publication of Ike's Incredible Ink. I got to chat with fellow Mac alumn Elizabeth Tannen and show her my crazy studio. And now you can see my crazy studio! Guys listen, I SWEAR I cleaned my studio before the photographer (the very kind Evan Sung) arrived. He made me mess it up again. He also reminded me that I probably didn't want to be photographed in house slippers, so, he's pretty great. In exchange, I drew him a monster.

I also got to draw illustrations for the cover and an interior article about campus legends. I heard about half of them while I was on campus; I never even questioned the story that there were tunnels built beneath the school so that you could get to classes in the dead of the Minnesota winter. More legends here.

Dot Day

International Dot Day is almost here. Learn more about making your mark and getting inspired by reading Peter Reynold's The Dot, and see the dots of other authors and illustrators on the Celebri-dot site. If you're an educator, sign up for Dot Day at your school here.

The Little Fleet Mural

The Little Fleet mural was painted on May 10th, 2014. Click the images to enlarge, or see more here.

Chalkboard

My bathroom has changed it's look again.

Giveaway!

Blogger/teacher/illustrator Elizabeth Dulemba interviewed me about writing and illustrating for her blog and is doing an IKE'S INCREDIBLE INK giveaway! Check it out and enter here.

Port Washington visit

On Thursday I gave my first auditorium presentations at the wonderful John Philip Sousa Elementary and Manorhaven Elementary schools in Port Washington. After reading Ike's Incredible Ink together we did a draw-along and the kids drew some amazing rocket ships. That afternoon at Dolphin Bookstore we did a collage project and made some "story-telling ink" of our own. Thanks to the amazing Dophin Bookstore for arranging!

Luchadores L'Amore

Happy Valentine's Day! Please beware the Luchadores L'Amore.

(click to view larger)

In lucha libre, there are rudos, or bad guys, and tecnicos, or good guys. These are rudos of Valentine's Day. Please beware.

A Google Poem: Man Living in Airport

The Google poetry illustration continues. Here is the full poem.

A Google Poem: Man Living in Dumpster

A few months ago, I posted a poem I "wrote" with a little help from the Google search bar. Some folks jokingly suggested I illustrate this award-worthy poem, and that's where they made a huge mistake. You should know by now that I take all jokes extremely seriously. So I'm illustrating this poem, guys. I'm illustrating it.

Harpy New Year!

Harpy New Year, everyone! I hope you are looking forward to a creative 2014. To ring in the New Year I launched an Etsy shop (click here) where you can buy archival giclee prints of my illustrations, including pages from Ike's Incredible Ink. The listings in the shop are really just suggestions. If you see something on my portfolio site that you'd like printed, or you have a specifically-sized art-shaped hole in your life, message me and we'll talk about custom print options.

Hometown Visit

Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday!

Authors and illustrators everywhere are spending the day at local independent book shops recommending books to shoppers and signing their own books. I've gone ultra-local and am in my hometown! I'm hanging out at Brilliant Books on Front Street in Traverse City, MI from 11-2 tomorrow so please come say "hi!" if you're around.

Not only has this past week been filled with my loud, lovely extended family and lots of good turkey, I also got to take a nice walk down memory lane. On Monday I spent the day with some exceptional 2nd, 4th, and 5th graders at Old Mission Elementary School, which was my elementary school once upon a time. I met some future authors and illustrators in that bunch. Hopefully I'll see some of them at Brilliant Books tomorrow!

What am I doing here?? I think asking the kids if the pond behind the OMS playground
is still haunted. They said no, but ponds don't just suddenly get un-haunted, guys.

How to Make Ink

More books about ink! If you like Ike's Incredible Ink you'll love this book by the amazing Pintu. He came to the event at McNally Jackson earlier this month and made a very cool collage. He then went home and began working on How to Make Ink. Obviously, it's super awesome.

Also available in hardcover! Thanks so much for sending me these photos, Pintu!

Spellbound Bookstore

This weekend I did two of my favorite things; hung out with my sister and her husband, and collaged with kids. Thanks again to Spellbound Children's Bookshop in Asheville, NC for hosting an hour of reading, drawing, and mess-making.

A good story has good descriptions! After reading Ike's Incredible Ink, the awesome kids you see here helped me think of creative ways to describe the color blue. We filled this drawing of a blender to make our own blue ink. This particular ink was made with squished blueberries, ocean sounds, cold snowflakes and soft furry monsters. We have some little Yves Kleins here! (Eh? Nerdy art joke? Anyone?)

Then, the kids filled blenders and bottles with collages of their very own story-telling ink. These are some serious author/illustrators in the making. You saw them here first.

Photos courtesy of Leslie Hawkins at Spellbound Children's Bookshop

Dressed for Success

Photo belongs to Atlantic-Pacific

Hey guys, I'm reading at Spellbound Bookshop in Asheville, NC tomorrow and I'm going to DRESS THE PART. Just kidding. But this skirt is pretty awesome, right?

McNally Jackson

Photo by Jenny Song

Check out the awesome kids that drew blenders with me this Saturday at McNally Jackson! We made some pretty great collage art, too. This weekend: Spellbound Children's Books in Asheville, NC. It's a collage-off!

Not Afraid of an Elephant

Happy Halloween! In honor of this great holiday, I present you with a gif of me making and wearing a cardboard elephant mask.

This gif was made by the amazing Thyra Heder. She wrote a truly wonderful book called Fraidyzoo, which is getting rave reviews and just won a 2013 Family Choice Award. Check out the other cardboard animals she's making here.

Ophelia's Dramatic Reading

Well, this is officially the cutest thing on the internet. This is my coworker's three-year-old daughter "reading" Ike's Incredible Ink out loud (colds be damned).