Illustrations Friday: "Baby"

A little baby and crib from the book I illustrated titled "On the Other Side of the Ocean" by Ruth Elisabeth Schoch.

Sunny's Adventures now out!

As I have worked on more and more illustration projects, there are two great moments that really stand out in the process, the first being finished with the project and looking over all the work that was done, and then the release of a project. This week has afforded me both great feelings with the finishing of the illustrations for "The Sick Bug" and the release of a book I illustrated a number of months ago called "Sunny's Adventures: a Children's Mystery Book." And with next weeks release of "The Bird Shaman" by Judy Moffett, the excitement is sure to continue. So I will leave you with the press release of the new book that is out called "Sunny's Adventures: a Children's Mystery Book" which was written by Leketha Marie Johnson.



PRESS RELEASE


May 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Leketha Marie Johnson
(951) 565-6806
www.sunnysadventures.com


Sunny's Adventures
a Children's Mystery Book
Riverside, California - May 2008

Hello Friends and Family! This is an annoucement to let you know that the debut children's book Sunny's Adventures written by Leketha Marie Johnson and beautifully illustrated by Shawn McCann is finally here! It's a children's mystery book in which the heroine Sunny, helps solve several mysteries and kids get to help right alongside her. It's great interactive detective fun for children of all ages! It teaches them to use their thinking skills along with showing them how doing the right thing can be very rewarding!

Log onto www.sunnysadventures.com today to order your copy! Also, once you enter the site, don't forget to sign up for the free newsletter for parents. For kids, make sure they download their free coloring pages and enter the Sunny's Adventures coloring contest for a chance to win some great prizes!

Your support is much appreciated and by all means, spread the word to your own circles (friends, family, schools, etc). Look out for future Sunny's Adventures book series very soon! Thank you everyone!
Sunny's Adventures is on sale now for $12.95 at www.sunnysadventures.com!
Also, log onto Leketha's Blog for all sorts of fun, free, relevent updated information regarding children, reading, literacy programs, fun learning sites, and more. Also, take advantage and read some free excerpts posted from the book!

Illustration Friday: "Worry"

Tess was worried about when the "Sick Bugs" would leave! Illustration from the soon to be released "The Sick Bug" written by Susie Bazil and illustrated by myself, Shawn McCann!

Illustrations Friday: "Wide"

What Rabbit really wanted was long, long ears and a wide foot!

A great addition to the studio

One of the great things I enjoy is looking at work of fellow artists, especially those outside of the type of work I do. Every once in a while I come across great pieces that I know I would like to add to my collection. One of those times happened last week when I was checking out Cynthia's work at her Etsy Shop. That's when I came across a couple of pieces that looked great and had to get them. So, when they arrived yesterday I was glad to put one of them to use right away. What a perfect way to hold brushes! I would definitely recommend checking out not only her blog but the fun things you can find in her shop!

Progress, progress, progress!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there! Hope your Sunday is going well and you have some fun plans for the day. Studio time lately has been very productive and am looking forward to completing all of the illustrations for the children's book "The Sick Bug" within the next couple of days. I am really anxious to get the images to the finalized stage and see how it plays out in the book format with all the text layed into it. It is hard to believe that it has been a little under three months since I started the book, but I guess time flies when you are having fun! So with that, I will leave you with a couple of illustrations from the book.

Illustrations galore and an award for Studio McCann

Happy Sunday to you all. I hope you were able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful spring day. I have been looking out the window and wishing I was out there, but know that the fresh breeze from the windows being open is a good start anyways. The good thing to remember I guess is it will only get nicer out there, so I better get my illustrations done while I can to enjoy the weather outside later. As for illustrations, I am excited to say that I am coming down to the last week or two on the "Sick Bug" book. It has been an amazing three months and am excited to get it to a complete phase and off to the designer and to print. It's amazing how far it has come in such a short time and am anxious to share the book with you guys when it is done. Until then, here are a few pics to show you a few of the illustrations that are lined up waiting to be finished.



In other news, I am excited to say that I have been awarded a ARTE y Pico Blog award by Cynthia. Thanks very much Cynthia for the nod!



The following 5 rules are attached to this award:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and that also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.

4. The Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte Y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

So to award the five awards, I have chosen the following: Art Lady Confidential, A Planet Named Janet, Christina Rodriguez, Tracy Helgeson, and Michael Shane Neal

With that, I must get back into the studio and get back to work. Hope you have a great start to your week and will be back soon with more fun and exciting news!

A great find: Tim Biskup

Artwork copyright Tim Biskup

It's not too often that I come across books that totally capture my attention and blow me away. But recently I had that very experience when a co-worker showed me a book by California artist Tim Biskup. Tim's work is amazing not only for its use of color, composition and concept, but the fact that it is minute in stature. The books themselves measure only 5.25" x 5.25" but are packed with inspiring and beautiful work that goes on and on.


Artwork copyright Tim Biskup

So with the experience I had looking at my co-workers copy of the book, I knew I had to get my own copies. I was able to find 4 books of his online and an amazing deck of cards called "The Lucky Stack" in which he has illustrated every card in a poker deck with his fantastic work. Of the four books that I was able to get, there is one titled "100 paintings by Tim Biskup" which states "The 100 paintings project encompasses his bizarre world of oozing monsters, delicate birds and abstract flourishes into compact portions." What makes these books even more amazing is the fact the the illustrations within the tiny format are actually produced at actual size! The other three books are apart of a 5 book series called "The Jackson 500". These are books that "are spontaneous compositions that contain the buds of many of Biskup's recurring characters, themes, and color theories" Each volume has a collection of 100 paintings and leave you wanting to see the next set.

As an illustrator and painter, it is really nice when you can find these unexpected gems. I totally love the fact that the books are produced in a way that is of quality and of great concept and execution. There petite size and strength of content definitely make them books that I will collect and add to as the come out!