Here comes the Bride

Not too long ago I sold a portrait of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster. The buyer was so happy, he commissioned me to match the painting with a Bride of Frankenstein portrait. I'm pretty thrilled about the project, not only am I honored a fan loves my work and commissioned more from me, but I also get to join the bride with her husband. I've wanted to paint the Bride for some time, but lack of sales and business of daily life kind of slows down my productivity. But with this sale, and potential future commissions, I'm back in my groove

A note to those who do commissions. As soon as I started the basic sketch on the canvas, I snapped a photo with my cellphone and emailed the buyer with a note about my progress. I usually do this, but this is the first time a buyer has told me that he "felt a part of the process." I've never thought of it like that before, I just wanted them to know I was on task with their commission. But now that I know that there is a personal touch beyond that with frequent updates, I am even more encouraged to let my customers know what is going on with an email an photo.
So with that, after work tonight I'll be hitting the paint and canvas and sending a new photo update.

Pied Piper of Hamelin

Sketches of The Pied Piper of Hamelin 1-17-2012

I'm working on a storybook for the Spokane Comicon, and this is my sketch dump so far.
The book will be The Pied Piper of Hamelin, and so far I'm having fun with the Piper. I based his design on several illustrations I found in research, particularly the pattern cloak.
The man in the hat is supposed to be the mayor of Hamelin. I'm having a hard time finding costumes for 13th century German local officials, so I just made a wild stab. A lot of pictures I found had important people in hats, so I made a funny hat, I hope it doesn't look too "Russian." I like the mayor's look, but I'm sure the clothes will change when I find more reference images.

I may draw a couple more officials, then some children, and I'll be ready to illustrate. I've divided the story text into 9 pages. The book will be laid out with text on the left page, and a full page illustration on the right. I also think I might draw rats crawling around the text as well.

Another fun idea I came up with is using a hole puncher to cut out "bites" from the corner of the cover when this is complete.

I'd love some suggestions! If this goes well, I may have to make more pocket storybooks.