Happy New Year!

In the Snow

December in the Northeast is full of beautiful blues and grays and dark greens. Bob and his llama are enjoying a ride through the crisp air and soft snow.  

'Where'd he get those eyes?'

There has been a little confusion over Bob's eyelashes, so I've decided to clear it up to the best of my abilities. Bob does indeed have big black eyelashes and blond hair, which I realize might look a little strange to some folks.

 

However, Bob's look is inspired by men's makeup from the Art Deco era, especially the 1930s. The stars of the silver screen were not averse to wearing big, bold, goopy levels of mascara that went beyond simple stage makeup and into the realm of fashion statements. Here are some examples:

                  Tyrone Power                         Gary Cooper                           Gary Cooper again             

 

                        James Cagney (known for rocking fair hair and dark mascara)                             

Makeup trends also influenced Golden era illustrators like Kaye Nielsen, J.C. Leyendecker, and one of my favorites, John E. Sheridan. Sheridan often gave his young men a dramatic look, like the one below.

 'Gridiron Great' By John E. Sheridan

Thus, Bob's eyelashes tie in with his wingtip shoes, plus fours and trench coats. They are retro and quirky, and fun to draw. And of course, they match his llama's. 

The Book!

Bob & His Llama is now published and available at a number of lovely shops around the Champlain Valley in Vermont. The latest shop to carry the book is the wonderful yarn store: Yarn & Yoga in Bristol. They even put one of their copies over a shelf of local llama yarn! (And, of course, they carry all the supplies needed to make a sweater just like Bob's).

If you live in Vermont, you can also find the book at Phoenix Books in Essex and Downtown Burlington, at Battery Street Jeans in the South End of Burlington, and at The Flying Pig in Shelburne!

If you are not able to visit one of these wonderful stores, you can still get a copy on the Bob and his Llama website.

Book Illustrations: Part 1

I've finished sketching and I've started coloring in the book illustrations. This is very exciting!

Book Sketches: Part 2

More sketches for the picture book, each illustrating another quality of Bob's llama. His taste, strength, loyalty etc. This first one is most definitely inspired by the fantastic Herbert Paus.  

For these two, I revamped old ideas to fit the new dimension I'm working with.

 

 Bob's plaid trench from the shopping picture is back!

Book Sketches: Part 1

    The sketches for the picture book project are off and running again! In order to keep things a little more organized, I have decided to sketch out all the illustrations first before I begin painting.

    I whittled down the picture book from an unwieldy epic to a much more manageable introduction to Bob and his Llama. Each picture will illustrate one of the llama's skills or qualities, and Bob will describe it in first person text. It is very simple, but it means that the subject matter can be as diverse and fun as I like. In this illustration, the llama has picked a winner!

Decisions

Bob can always count on his llama to tell him which hat will suit him best.

Picture Book Draft II

I've taken a slightly different tack with the picture book project. The plot of the previous one was getting harder and harder to illustrate, so I've put it on hold and have begun a more abstract approach. This image is the introduction.