A Day in the Life

It's time to take a break from the Little Beasties I've been posting recently and introduce to you my unconventional movable work style. Most people sit in their studio working all day. Not me. Been there, done that for many years. I've read many illustrators complain of the feeling of isolation with working alone in their studio as a freelancer. 

If the sun's out, I fill my saddlebags with my drawing and writing materials, then climb on my motorcycle and head for the beach or the mountains and spend my day "working" there. If it's cloudy or rainy, I head for Starbucks or any of a number of nearby coffee shops. I still spend a lot of time at my office on the phone and answering emails. But as soon as I get the business stuff out of the way, I leave my office and go somewhere to get my drawing and writing done. I do return to the office to do my Photoshop/Wacom coloring. But all of my drawing and writing is done outside of my studio.

Today my destination is South Prairie, Washington, a small town in the Cascade foothills of the Puget Sound region of Washington State. I will pass through the pleasant Puyallup Valley town of Orting on my ride to South Prairie. Mount Rainier looms in the distance (above) from the town center of Orting. The population density drops considerably after you leave Orting. The scenery along Route 162 between Orting and South Prairie is postcard pastoral.

The Carbon River is born on Carbon Glacier on the slopes of Mount Rainier. This is the river as it appears in the upper Puyallup Valley, between Orting and South Prairie. It joins the Puyallup River downstream near Orting, then winds its way to Puget Sound.

This is a typical stretch of highway between Orting and South Prairie. The scenery here is as idyllic as any in the Pacific Northwest. This area is far enough away from the population centers of the Northwest that it's still unspoiled.

The Veteran's Park in South Prairie where I do my work is located on the east side of town. I didn't include a shot of South Prairie...it's so small it doesn't make much of a picture. This shelter shades me from the midday sun while I work. In the late afternoon the sun comes beaming in at an angle into the shelter. Then I might move to the picnic table by the stream.

This is my favorite spot in the park. It's so pleasant and inspiring to sit and work with the rushing stream nearby. On this day the temperature was a pleasant 72 degrees while I sat and worked on my new Monster Safari children's book. I encourage you to leave your studio occasionally and find a pleasant place to work and renew your inspiration.

Look out for that stinger!

That last creature, the furry serpent, got canned. I concluded that there's something a little creepy about a snake with fur. So now I'm auditioning another slithery, crawly creature. I hope you prefer this one over the furry fellow.

I might add that my original intention was to make these monsters a little edgy, not too benign. But then I remembered who my audience is, first graders... fourth graders. Moms of elementary age children aren't going to buy a book for their first grader that depicts scary monsters with blood dripping out of their mouth. That's why I'm not drawing these creatures with evil eyes and macabre features. These are supposed to be fun monsters.

These are the style of monsters that I draw on my giant pad when I visit the schools. So now I will be able to pick a monster from the book, draw it on stage, then sell the book at the end of the school day. This book will be a perfect fit for my school programs.

Look, George! It's a Furpent!

The Little Beastie parade marches on, or slithers on, if you prefer.  This time with a creature of the serpent variety. What? You've never heard of a hairy serpent? Well, then, you've never been to Monster Island. 

Do I know you?

I felt like the "hairy"style monster was underrepresented  in the batch, so I drew this one today. I'm getting close to finishing the monsters, then I start on the draw-the-monster pages, which will appear on the right side of each monster spread. I haven't decided yet, but I might draw a few more. I want to make sure that each monster deserves its place in the book. Stay tuned.

Don't forget to check out my other blog, The Trowbridge Chronicles.

What's up?

I'm cruising in to the home stretch. A couple more Little Beasties and I will have enough to put together a book. If you have any last minute monster requests, let me know while there's still time. I think this book will go over well in the schools. Having done school assemblies for many years, I know that kids are crazy about monsters.

I've made a game out of this for my school assemblies for many years. I call it the Crazy Critter Game or the Make-a-Monster Game. The kids in the audience pull various names of animal parts that I've written on pieces of paper ("toad eyes, elephant trunk") out of a bag when I come down into the audience. I return to the stage and read the animal part name to the audience (they howl with laughter), then I draw it onto my giant easel pad (they howl with laughter again). I end up with a hodge-podge of animal parts which combine to make a "Crazy Critter"...and an auditorium full of kids howling with laughter. So after they see the Crazy Critter that I've drawn, they'll want to buy the Crazy Critter (Little Beastie) book. It's always a slam dunk. It's great fun to draw for school audiences, then to sell and sign books. You should try it if you don't already do it.

Don't Even Think About It.

Here's another Little Beastie, auditioning for a role in my new children's book. The tentative title: The Little Beasties of Monster Island: A Sketchbook. If you take a special liking to any of the little creatures in the line-up, let me know. I will be making my choice fairly soon. But I will be drawing more Little Beasties because I want to have plenty to choose from.

Don't forget to check out my other blog, The Trowbridge Chronicles.

Easy Rider

Here's yet another monster to add to my growing monster menagery. I will continue adding beasties until I feel I have more than enough for the book. Then I'll start thinning the herd. There will probably be 12 monsters that make the final cut. Each monster, as seen above, will occupy the left side of the 7.5 inch square page. On the right side of the page there will be a simple tutorial on how how to draw the Little Beastie. So this will be a how-to-draw book. This concept fits in perfectly with my school programs since I sell lots of books at schools.


Since I've illustrated a number of 32-page children's books in full color, I know what a long haul it is to complete the work on a kids' book. This time I felt like I wanted to move through the project more quickly. Creating a "sketch book" format would accelerate the process because most of my final art would be in pencil sketch form.