Color Me: Froggy Valentine!

A special Valentine's Day Coloring Page. Color in this ribbit romance and send it to your valentine or to me at mail@crodillustration.com as a jpeg or pdf and I'll post it on my blog!
Happy Valentine's Day........ribbit!!

Color Me: Love Song!

This week's coloring page is in heart of Valentine's Day. Click on the image and select print. Send me your colored version of these love birds and send it to me as a jpeg or pdf to mail@crodillustration.com and I will post it to my blog! Happy Coloring!

Desert Magic: Book One Available February 14th!!

It's finally here, the release date of the first book of the Desert Magic Trilogy! I created the cover art for Healing Magic and it is written by Cindy Davis and John Richters. and will be available for purchase at Amazon.com and select book stores February 14th! Visit the Desert Magic website to learn more about the the trilogy, it's authors, and even a sneak peek at an excerpt from the book! Check for special events and book signings in your area!

Color Me! Sleepytime Coloring Page!!

Just for fun a coloring page. Who are the models for this Sleepytime Coloring Page you may ask? Well this is Hanzel (the kitty) and Zoey (the shih tzu). Zoey got a new bed from Santa this year and Hanzel can not seem to resist the coziness of her present. Maybe next year Santa will bring them a bigger bed!


Click the image and select print! Send me your colored version and I'll post it on my blog, Happy Coloring!

AHH I haven't posted in so Long!

I am over due for an update! I am happy to say I joined a fantastic critique group. It has a lot of energy and constant motivation flow. Everyone is so helpful and there is such a unique and diverse style to everyone's work as well as their experiences. Through this critique group we are in the process of starting up a Showcase of all of our work as well as some other fabulous illustrators that would like to post. Hopefully every week we will be posting new illustrations and once we officially go live will be sending the link to editors, art directors, schools, and other organizations. Just a little tool to help with exposure. Lately I have found myself in a bit of a creative funk and really need to get the ball rolling with new ideas. I have a sketch due soon for the second cover of the Desert Magic Series written by Cindy Davis and John Richters and would like to "bust out" a new portfolio piece, possible postcard before that. I am also waiting to hear back on a publisher about a possible book contract, more on that later. I will also be sending out a newsletter sometime in the near future so if you are not already signed up feel free to do so by submitting your email address on the right of this page!

Happy New Year!!

Well 2008 just flew by!!! 2009 should be a good year if I stick to some of my resolutions which includes getting a gig that I can be happy to boast about (like a book cough cough). I have been keeping myself pretty busy through Christmas, mostly painting and making presents for clients, family, and friends. Most of them were dog portraits, which I hope to add a link to on my website. I also created a wall plaque for my sister who is a hair stylist which was a lot of fun and something different. I definitely would not say that sculpting is one of my strongest points by any means so I rarely take an opportunity to "play" with sculpey and acrylics. I molded hair dresser supplies to spell out her name....can you see what it says???? Well everyone have a Happy New Year, and here's to sticking to resolutions in 2009!!!




Don't forget if anyone is interested in having a personal painted portrait of their favorite pet or child that I am open for business!!! I will be soon to post these examples and hopefully others on my website along with rates!

Online Interview

I am this month's member spotlight on the website for the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles!! View it here.

New Shop!

I just opened up a shop at Cafe Press. I included a link on my website so now everyone may buy little trinkets, coffee mugs, and T-Shirts with my art work on them! I'll be working on it for the next few weeks and adding more art work to the site so people can shop for more goodies!

New Postcard!

I decided to use my latest paintings for my new postcard. I was having trouble fitting the spider illustration on the back so that I would have room for the address labels, a stamp, and the post office bar codes, so I decided to do what I wanted anyway and then just have to use an envelope.

NJ SCBWI Illustrator's Day

I was able to go to an Illustrator's Day in Princeton yesterday. My favorite part was having my most recent piece critiqued by other members in the field and by Patrick Collins, art director for Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. I am pretty happy with the results and the reaction Patrick had to my piece. I was also given the opportunity to have Laurent Linn give me a in depth portfolio critique. He was so helpful and pointed out what was good and bad about almost every piece I had. I really know what I have to work on now and have a clear vision of what I need to do when I create new pieces so I can slowly work on weeding out the weaker pieces. I also loved that I was able to browse through other members portfolios. I recognized some work through childrensillustrators.com and am so happy I was able to meet their maker! I saw many familiar faces from previous conferences and love how everyone is just so friendly! Overall a wonderful day and I can not wait until the next one. I give major props to Leeza Hernandez for making this all happen! Here is my finished assignment. I also brought the preliminary sketches I had posted a few posts ago.