Some new promo pieces!

Hi everyone! I'm here to share some exciting news! After spending a little over a year as an in house graphic designer at an independent publishing house, I will be leaving to focus on freelancing! For those who know me, it will come as no surprise that I am balancing this with a career in personal training. I've spent the last several months avidly studying to bring this lifestyle change to fruition, and I am so excited to say that it has paid off. I will be beginning as a trainer at a gym here in Chicago at the beginning of October. In the mean time I'll be creating several new promotion pieces such as these above, as well as beginning work on picture book dummies and samples for a few manuscripts I've written during this past several months! I also have a few other exciting collaborations in the works that will be leading to more opportunities in the coming months that I can't wait to share with you all! I'm so looking forward to all of the great things to come as I make this big shift to focus on what I spent so much time in school for. I'm sure there will be struggles and rough times, but as many illustrators have proved before, anything is possible with hard work and determination! So until my next update, best wishes!

Joshua

Dinosaurs

Just a quick little spot illo I wanted to share. I'm finally making myself draw some kids in more modern-wear, haha.

Happy Wednesday! :)

Joshua

Air Travel Fun!

Hi everyone! It's busy busy busy around here in the race to the finish as the date of my thesis exhibition (March 28th) draws near! I don't like to go too long without updating the blog though, so I thought I would share some of the imagery for the prints and patterns I'm currently working on alongside my dummy for The Little Merprince. I'll also have some work from my character design class to share within the next couple of days.

Anyway, the series I'm currently working on is under the theme of travel and exploration, and I'd love to hear what you think! I was planning to do land, sea and sky, although I may just stick to air at this point and move on, but we shall see!

Until next time, best wishes!

Joshua

We're not in Kansas anymore!

The Wizard of Oz (along with most fairy tales and stories from my childhood) holds a very dear place in my heart. Most importantly, I associate the story with my late grandmother who played a large role in my life and really helped to pave the yellow brick road to my artistic career. That being said, it's been something I have been wanting to address for a while, and I was really excited when I finally got the opportunity to do so.

I really find myself enjoying working digitally these days. I have several other pieces on the horizon, a few of which are traditional, so I am excited to see how my recent work in this format will speak to my hand with traditional media. I look forward to sharing this with you all, and until next time, Best Wishes!

~Joshua

My Watercolor Process

Hi guys! As I've posted on my facebook and tumblr, I have recently completed my latest spread from my Snow White and Rose Red project. This one will be the opening spread of the book. Since I post images a bit more often and quicker on my tumblr, I like to use my blogger here to speak a bit more expansively about my pieces. So for this painting, I decided I would take photos throughout so I could share a bit of my process when I'm doing a watercolor painting.

I hope this was something enjoyable to see, and if so, perhaps I'll do more posts like this with my other methods as well?

I have one more spread of this to bring to completion this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it. It is of the scene when the bear is revealed to be the prince! I also have a fair amount more of my Wish Academy project to complete for next Thursday, so I look forward to sharing that as well! Until then, best wishes!

~Josh

A visit from Leonard Marcus

I am so excited to be finally going to print on my Princess Etiquette book tomorrow! Once they are all assembled and ready for purchase, I will be sure to post a link to my shop here on the blog, as well as on my facebook, tumblr and twitter! The above image was illustrated as the cover for the book, which by the way, the full title is Princess Primer: 12 easy steps to becoming a proper princess. 

As I am coming to a close on the production of this project, I'm really excited to keep moving forward with my other endeavors at the moment. Below is a finished spread for the Snow White and Rose Red book dummy I am working on. I plan to complete one, possibly two more spreads and a few ink drawings and leave the rest in sketch form. I also have the Fairy Godmother Academy going on and a line of winter greeting cards and stationary that will also be available in about two weeks. 

In other news, we had an absolutely amazing guest today at the MICA Illustration Practice MFA program today! The acclaimed children's book historian Leonard Marcus came to speak with all of us as a part of our critical seminar with Stephanie Plunkett (shown below) and Joyce Schiller of the Norman Rockwell Museum. It was such a pleasure to hear about one of my favorite subjects from such an authority on children's literature. 

Every day, I find myself more and more pleased to have selected MICA for my graduate studies. There are so many amazing opportunities here! I feel that I have already grown so much and my first semester has still not even come to completion. I'm really looking forward to what the next year and a half holds in store! Until next time then, best wishes!

~Josh