Merry Christmas, everybody!

Hey, everyone. Nathan Bransford has promised to donate $0.50 for each comment he receives on his blog today to Heifer International. It's a great organization, so pop on over and post a comment.

My Santa Self:

Ramona in color:

Here's an inked version. I'll add color to it tomorrow.

I've been working on possible designs for a holiday card. I know it's kind of late to be getting started, but we had the entire gene pool over for Thanksgiving. I had a little trouble getting into the proper mindset.

This year Christmas will be brought to you by the newest additions to the family, my gerbils (and life models) Beezus and Ramona. Here's a preliminary sketch:


And here's Ramona. Isn't she a beauty?

Here's a picture I drew to help me think through a new story idea.

Another picture redo:

Canadian illustrator Eric Orchard has opened a new online shop for his Harry and Silvio mini-comics. His work is delightfully appealing.

Go check it out!

Still more facial expression studies:

More facial expressions studies:

Lately I have been drawing studies of facial expressions. I'm working from photos in the book FACIAL EXPRESSIONS: A VISUAL REFERENCE FOR ARTISTS by Mark Simon (Watson-Guptill, 2005). Here's a taste:

Here's another from the sketchbook:
And here it is with colored pencil added:

From the sketchbook. I'm working on making faces more expressive.

Gerbil characters:

Rat feast redone:

Still more gerbils:

Even more gerbils:

More gerbils:

Gerbil sketches:

Bird's eye view of the mansion:

More character sketches:

From the sketchbook, developing a character:

Street scene with payne's gray wash and blue-gray colored pencil:

Another street scene in pen-and-ink:

Streetscene sketch:

From the sketchbook:

Lending a hand:

Up a tree:

Reading:

Moping:

Rat alley:

Sneaky squirrel:

Mouse climbing a rope:

The TBR pile:

Pinecone spots:

From an old sketchbook:

More drawings from old sketchbooks:

Here are a couple of pen-and-inks from an old sketchbook: