Los Chuys are running

Here's a couple images I snagged from the internet of the "Los Chupacabras De La Noche" race held in San Antonio, Texas a couple weekends ago. I don't know the runners personally but I did the Chuy (pronounced Chewie!) drawing. It's very cool to see people wearing a t-shirt with my drawing on it. I hear the t-shirts turned out really good this year too! My samples should be arriving any day. Woo Hoo!

Last year's design is available here.

The Imposter's Daughter

Please check out the beautiful graphic memoir, "The Imposter's Daughter" written and illustrated by Laurie Sandell. Out in bookstores July 29th!
** BTW, I colored the book from cover to cover.

How'd that happen? Well...

In May 2008, I got an e-mail from a writer living in New York who wanted ME to color her graphic novel. To which I replied "Hells YES!". I did so because first, it sounded so cool and well, quite frankly I wanted to be very busy with a "perfect summer gig!". In reality, it took much, much longer than the summer though. The assignment pretty much took the entire year. Most of the time, I was happy to color away, reading Laurie's book as the pages came in. During the course of this last year, Laurie and I traded daily e-mails often times discussing men- "He said what?!" or the election -Yay! Obama! or any number of random thoughts. It was fun. We met a couple times for coffee, here in Los Angeles, when she'd flown in to interview some über famous celeb. It was a strange and awesome experience getting to know someone like that. There were times I felt challenged by this assignment too. There was so much to do that there was very little time for working on my own art or for making any extra money either. But new pages of the book would arrive with e-mails coinciding and I'd get another glimpse at the story unfolding before me. I could relate to so much she shared about herself in both her book and correspondence...even though our lives are vastly different. And let's face it, because the woman is a very good interviewer, I pretty much told her my whole story too. I think I felt comfortable blabbing about myself to her because I was witnessing how she was willing to put herself out there to tell her own story. I have a great amount of respect for that.

So please check out this book! Check out her book readings if you're in either NYC, Los Angeles, San Fran or Portland in August. It's an honest, entertaining, humorous, and compelling read. You might find a bit of yourself in there too. And, if I don't say so myself....it's color ain't too shabby. ;)

www.lauriesandell.com

Liberty Porter

Hi! So, Liberty Porter, First Daughter came out this week. I illustrated the cover and interiors. I must say, it was pretty cool to go into Barnes and Noble and see the book on the shelf...not far away from a few of the other covers I've done over the past couple years. Wow, it's like I'm a true blue illustrator or something! Wooo Hoo!
I bought two of the three copies (one for me and the other for my parents) but still, had to leave the third copy there so my Mom could go into that store and see it for herself. Look Ma, it's really there on the shelf!

Read fun facts from the author about Liberty Porter and other First Kids here!
Here are a few of the interior illustrations!







This Young Reader Chapter Book was written by Julia DeVillers, published by Simon & Schuster, book design by Karin Paprocki. Available in hardback, everywhere!