ART CREATED IN A COMIC STYLE, SOMETIMES WITH CAPTIONS, AND SOMETIMES FUNNY.
Pre-Algebra Textbook
Digital
As a follow-up to their 7th grade level Fundamentals of Math textbook, BJU Press asked me to create 36 illustrated cartoons for their 8th grade Pre-Algebra textbook published in 2022. Utilizing all my skills of joke writing, storytelling, and cartoon illustration, and with heavy algebra explanations from the math writers, I came up with lots of jokes to help ease the pain for those middle school kids while learning a difficult subject.
The cartoons for this book follow a family as they take a summertime road trip across the fictional Interpike 85 highway. I hearkened back to my own childhood experiences of family road trips, and even modeled the dad on a combination of my father and one of his best friends, Don Small, who was like an uncle to me. Presented here are the chapter title pages spread throughout the book.
Oh, and by the way, one Easter egg is that the son’s t-shirt changes to reflect where they are visiting during each chapter.
Kings of Chaos
Written Word & Layouts
I’ve always had a love for Disney comics, and in particular, the duck stories by the great Carl Barks. As a young cartoonist, I thought I’d give comics a shot and wrote my own Neighbor Jones ten-page comic filled with gags in the vein of Barks. Danish publisher, Egmont, liked the story, and bought it as a six-pager back in 1997. Following my layout drawings, they had another artist draw the final pages which were first published in their weekly Donald Duck comic in 2001. My story saw the light of day in English when it was published here in the States in 2004 by publisher, Gemstone.
I never did submit another comic book story because just after selling this one, I accepted a job at Disney Feature Animation in California where my time was adequately occupied for a number of years. It could be fun to give it a go again sometime, so long as I get to draw it.
The Birthday Band
digital
Who doesn’t love a parade, and of course any decent parade requires a rousing marching band. This band marched to the tune of Happy Birthday on a special greeting card for a special someone. And just to show that I can edit myself, I chose NOT to illustrate the fellas who were following this particular band with industrial brooms and dust pans. You’re welcome.
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Blackbeard
Digital
Back in 2017, my family had their first ever official family reunion held in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Ol’ Blackbeard, the fierce famous pirate from history, met his end in the Outer Banks, so it seemed appropriate to create a T-shirt showing how he spent his final days on those wonderful beaches. For some reason, the history books never mention this part.
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Fundamentals of Math
Digital
I was asked by educational publisher BJU Press to create 42 cartoon illustrations for their 7th grade Fundamentals of Math textbook, and they wanted them to be set at a theme park! Pretty sure I did a double-take upon hearing that, because my student math books were always so stuffy and clinical. In fact, I was usually chastised for drawing cartoons during math class. I suppose math class ultimately DID prepare me for life after all, just not in the way my teachers expected.
The 14 chapter pages were all set on one great big long roller coaster that could go anywhere and do anything. And hopefully in a funny morbid way, the vulture was ever present looking for his opportunity should the coaster fail our two kids at some point. These are some of my favorites in the series. (Please forgive me if some of the text blocks have guidelines in them – those are the working versions I was given in those cases when I was planning my illustrations.)
Captain Traffic
Digital
Captain Traffic is a character I created with the guys at ComedyTrafficSchool.com. The good Capt. appears throughout the site as folks who got a ticket in sunny California go through traffic school online. He’s there to ease your pain as you pay penance for not paying attention to the road. And as much as you are tempted, don’t do traffic school while driving.
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Sewer Monsters
Ink & digital
No matter who you are, it’s always healthy to maintain sanitary practices.
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Generations of Grace
Ink & digital
Generations of Grace is a three-year Sunday school curriculum for elementary-aged children that is used all over the world. I created over 500 ink drawings for the program that serve as coloring sheets and craft projects as kids learn about the Bible. Even though the art appeals to children, I spent a lot of time researching architecture and attire and striving to make the characters look like they are from the Middle East.
Years later, the publishers wanted all the coloring sheets produced in color. I established a posterized coloring style by doing about 20 or so images (with help from illustrator Andy Heckathorne), and the rest were colored by other artists since I was busy with a television job at the time. Here are a few from the life of Moses that I colored, including my favorite drawing in the whole series, the plague of frogs.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the curriculum!
Wreck-It-Ralph
Digital
This was an unusual project for me. Years ago when I worked on licensed character books as a freelancer, I would get my rough pencils back with tracing paper overlays on which some mystery artist had redrawn my characters to be more “on model.” Often, this was needed because the publishers didn’t send very good reference material to work from, but artists at the studios had access to all the good stuff. Years later, I was asked by Disney Publishing to be that mystery artist for someone who was working on a Wreck-It Ralph book to coincide with the release of the movie. So, I did these drawings of the characters to help guide that illustrator back to how the characters looked in the movie.
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Usagi Yojimbo
gouache, watercolor, & colored pencil
Back in 2014, the wife of Usagi Yojimbo comic book creator Stan Sakai was going through a health trial. The artist community came together to create their own versions of Stan’s roaming samurai rabbit that were compiled into a book by Bill Morrison published by Dark Horse Comics with proceeds going to help Sharon Sakai’s medical bills. Many of the original pieces were sold at auction to raise even more funds. It was a highly unusual project that succeeded above and beyond our expectations for the Sakai’s. Unfortunately, Sharon passed, but was able to witness the love for her and Stan from our shared community through this effort.
This was my piece for The Sakai Project.
The Nightmare
Ink & digital
Everyone knows that you are safe from monsters as long as you stay on your bed. All bets are off if you have to make a midnight wee-wee. This is why kids wet their beds – to stay safe.
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King of the Jungle
Digital
This was the art created for the official T-shirt of a volleyball tournament held on a California beach. The art could only be printed in one color, so they only used the line art, but later I went back and colored it up to what I would have liked it to be had they been able to screen print in full color. Feel the burn!
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Frye Inks Kirby
ink
Here’s a little piece from a few years back that I inked over a light print of the great Jack Kirby’s pencils. My friend Steve Wyatt was running a comic convention here in California, and asked some artist friends of his to all ink the same Kirby Captain America drawing, and then he auctioned off the original inks for charity. Let me tell you, it was intimidating inking King Kirby, so I chose to stay as true as possible to his pencils without adding much flair of my own. Later, I took it into the computer to color the lines to give it some depth.
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