Cover and Interior Illustration for Highlights Puzzlemania Book

So... every now and then the little kid in me gets all giddy because I get to work for one of the companies I grew up with.   Many a dentist's office visit I spent searching for hidden pictures in a Highlights magazine.  Here's a recent cover I got to create for an issue of a Highlights Puzzlemania book. The illustration also appears on the inside with a nearly identical version next to it with 20 differences to find.  Check out the pics below in case you're stuck in a dentist's office with nothing to do.

Find twenty differences on the next picture...

Find 20 differences from the previous pic!

Here's the original sketch with cropped areas indicated for cover and interior activity pages.

Being an Illustrator (or Two or Three)

The “experts” all say the same thing:  “Don’t confuse people with unrelated styles on your website.”  “Stick to one look or you’ll never make it as a world-renowned illustrator.  After all, it might look like you’re unprofessional… or even worse… that you’re not FAMOUS!!!”  Honestly,  if you think about it, “famous” kind of means being well-known enough to have the amazing pleasure of being locked in to the same style over and over and over and over and over and over and over…and over…”   I don’t know about you, but that’s not the kind of artistic future that motivates me.

 I get it though.  Their advice is actually sound and well intended.

    So, in spite of this sage advice, why did I branch off into a totally non-related “cut-paper” look for this particular job?…  Well, first of all, because I knew it would be a great fit for my client’s subject matter but furthermore it was because, for almost three decades now, the fun of branching off and actually enjoying the freedom to experiment as an artist is what’s kept my business, well, busy!   If there was a chef who was excellent at making one particularly amazing gourmet dish and was told to only make variations of that dish night after night, year after year… I’m certain they’d eventually be sick of the kitchen and want to seek more exciting employment.  So why in the world are we told that clients are too mindless to see that versatility in an illustrator is an ASSET?

  I believe it comes down to fear.   We don’t want to mess with that “illusion” that we’re so much more “successful” than perhaps we actually are.  If you ask me, life’s way too short for that kind of nonsense.   It’s a natural game of business to create that illusion for a customer and it may be quite prudent to play that way, but I’m a firm believer that the honest approach is much more enjoyable and fulfilling.  People expect a con these days.  Honesty is a rare trait in business and perhaps the one asset, beyond any talent I may have, that has kept my work thriving over the years.

   Sometimes an alternative illustration style is just the thing that what would fit a particular project perfectly.  I’ve had the true pleasure of working with many wonderful clients who trust my judgement on changing a style to fit a particular theme.  To all the artists and illustrators out there who have been told (with good intentions) to knock it off with the creative detours… Isn’t that what making art is all about?   Exploring, discovering, expanding, evolving, being excited, even thrilled, etc?

   So here’s a great question to ask when approaching any job:  How can I have an utter blast solving my client’s illustration needs and delivering art that thrills them far beyond their expectations?   Sometimes you just have to ask their permission to go in a new direction.  Solve this competently, and everyone wins… and... you get to continue to play in new realms over and over and over and over again.

Board-game Design- The Great Coin Caper

Slowly but surely, the plan is to add more and more history about some of the more interesting projects that have made their way through this studio over the past couple years- in what the Jones Studio scientists refer to as the "Pre-Larryial Blog Era".   Many a fun and joyous game board has been designed and illustrated here over the years and today we'll take a look at that momentous educational phenomena known as The Great Coin Caper- A Dewey Whodunit Game-  (Highsmith).   Attached are some of the original sketches that still remain as well as the finished art.  And now ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... some stuff I drew...  

"Game Box in Repose on Oak Dining Room Table"

This is how I draw stuff.

The finished game board a la photoshop.

Goofy robots make me happy.

The card face.

Sketches of some of my favorite old acquaintances from school.

This game is fashioned after the game of "CLUE"... and these are your Professor Plums, etc...

...but no-one get's killed by these...

...And the finished game, in morning sunlight, upon shooing the cat away 14 times.