Release Day!

It's not everyday that you have your book published! I'm so pleased to announce that "Rudy and Claude Splash Into Art" is now available in bookstores around the country as well as on Amazon. 

If you've had a chance to flip through the pages and would like to leave a review on Amazon, your feedback would be most appreciated!

Thanks everyone for your support so far! It's been so great sharing the progress of this book with you guys, and I'm so happy with this journey so far.

-A

TBT - If Rudy Was A Snake

I was going through some old drawings today when I found this:

It struck me that the original concept for my latest picture book, "Rudy and Claude Splash Into Art" actually featured a snake, not a rat, as its main character. It wasn't until I started drafting the images for the story that I realized I needed a change; I think that a rat, with its hands and feet, gave me way more options in the way of positioning Rudy and having him interact with Claude and the other props in the images.

Still though, this snake definitely would have been fun-- slipping and sliding around in the paint.

Rudy and Claude Out Next Week!

I'm so pleased to announce that just one week from today, on September 16, 2014, my second children's picture book, "Rudy and Claude Splash Into Art" will hit shelves!

Here's Rudy, he's the inquisitive protagonist from "Splash Into Art." We've gotten to know each other really well over the past year, and I admit that I see a lot of myself in him:

And here's Claude. the know-it-all pigeon that helps Rudy discover his voice as an artist:

As you'll come to learn, Rudy has a tough time wrapping his head around the whole art thing. But that doesn't stop him from being the most determined mouse around. 

Stay in touch for more updates! I promise to post more. For anyone interested, the pre-order for the book can be found here.

My First Religious Illustrations

Just received a few advance copies of a work book I did for the Syriac Orthadox Church: a tool for them to use in their 4th grade religion classes. I wasn't sure how I felt about doing illustrations for any church, but illustrating bible stories is really fun: there's lots of swords and action, and the characters are great. Drawing people, especially their faces, hands, and clothing, is challenging but always rewarding.