cheer book art

While digging around in the folders on my desktop looking for stuff to update my portfolio with, I ran across many (many many) folders of artwork from the CHEER! series that I worked on last year.  Then I realized that I never posted any of it!  I guess I was waiting for the books to come out and kinda forgot!  It all works out because now I can post my favorite drawings from the third, fourth and fifth books altogether.  

Unfortunately, the last two books had very, very few illustrations in them at all.  I guess they weren't selling so hot and they had to cut back where they could, so the books went from having about 80 illustrations total to having about 12.  Ah well, it was fun while it lasted!

This is one of my favorites from all 5 books.  This girl is in love with Dustin-something-pop-icon-kid (basically Justin Bieber), so I got to draw really silly, jacked up versions of Justin.  The narrator, like myself at that tender high school age, really doesn't get the whole boy band infatuation thing.

The team mascot in the book is this wall-eyed bear costume.  Ha ha!

These are "artsy" kids.  I like the kid with the cameras.  He's really into photography, man!

A fashion blogger type!

I always like drawing tea cups.  Or coffee cups.  Any cups, really.

New York boys.  Too cool for school!

Little spice dudes!

Another Dustin-Justin, signing autographs with a booger in his nose.  

Did anyone else have teachers that looked like this?  80's blouses, miserable wrinkly face, sensible shoes?  I think all of mine were this way.  

Who hasn't wished they could high five someone through the computer screen?  Is anyone working on this technology?

These were all done in good old fashioned Photoshop, by the way.  I used a scratchy-inky brush.

In other news, I have a big THING to share with you soon and it has to do with 

Disneyland 

and Toy Story 

and Mickey Mouse 

and t-shirts 

and vinyl toys. 

 Doesn't that sound cryptic-ly exciting?? 

 I can't divulge any specific stuff YET (well, they actually gave me an official blurb I could post on my blog but it is so obviously not written by me that you'd probably be offended that I posted it at all, assuming I thought I could trick you, and then you'd be mad and never come back, right?) but as soon as it all goes down I'll post lots of pictures and it will be great!

CHEER!

I told you I had a lot of stuff to share, and I wasn't kidding!

About a year ago I was asked if I'd be interested in illustrating a series of books about a teenage girl.  That sounds kinda cool, right?  BUT, her primary interest in life, besides boys, and clothes, was cheerleading.  I know most of you don't know me personally, but perhaps you can tell by the overall impression of moi that you get from this blog,  that I could give a care about cheerleading, or school spirit, or anything remotely involved with liking high school at all.  I didn't enjoy high school one bit, myself, and I was about as far from a cheerleader as you could get.

It sounded like such an un-ME project that I almost said no.  But then I said yes.

And now those books exist, in the world, and my name is on them!

The first two books (in a series of five) are out now, and although they're chapter books they are riddled with illustrations.  I plucked a few of my favorites out to share with yous!

The illustrations are meant to be doodles and sketches by the narrator/star of the book series, a teenage girl named Maddy.  She wants to be a cheerleader SO BAD which I SO CAN'T relate to, but she is also an artist, and I CAN relate to doing silly drawings of things!

            Like wishing your nerdy best friend would dress cuter...

...or your best friend making faces at you...

...and getting dagger eyeballs from mean girls!

  It's a trip to see my own handwriting in a book.

 Ultimately, I'm really happy that I decided to jump into this book series.  The sketches are fun I make a point of forcing them to be interesting by inking them with a brush pen.  That way I can't noodle them forever (like in photoshop) and you get little spontaneous surprises sometimes.

  Plus they are supposed to be kind of wiggly and sketchy.  It's hard for me to avoid making them all clean and nice sometimes, tho...

So that's what I've been up to.  I wish I knew more tween-age girls, cuz I love to know what the intended audience thinks of the books.  

Now, back to work!