Compositional sketch of a Boston Terrier at the base of the Paul Revere monument. The Old North Church is in the background.

Rough sketch of an Afghan hound. To show the dog in his ancestral home I included the famous statue of Buddha in the rural village of Bamiyan, Afghanistan. The 180 foot statue, a World Heritage Site, was carved from a sandstone cliff in the 5th century. It (along with a slightly smaller one nearby) was unceremoniously destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

Three more and I’m done…

December will be quite a busy month around here, in preparation for a nice long visit with Mom and Dad in California for the holidays.

The final deck of Melissa’s client’s yacht is ready to be rendered. Being the small, top deck, it will take just three or four illustration boards rather than the seventeen and eighteen required for the lower decks.

My parents’ house has been on the market for a while now, and in an effort to help get it sold I’ve gutted their kitchen. I’ll be installing all new appliances and cabinetry during December, as well as replacing the 1970’s florescent lights with either recessed or track lights. A new entry door would be really nice as well – it’ll add bit of character.

Alphadog is still on the drawing board, and I hope to have artwork for several of the letters finished before the end of the year.

That said, my book sits firmly behind another pressing project: the cartoons. I’m now working with a talented Chicago animator to flesh out my storyboard (which was enthusiastically received at the last meeting). We’ll need to present some portion of our first 8-minute segment by the time Melissa and I leave on the 22nd.

You may remember Milk Bandits, Inc., my clothing company formed last year. Well, it’s been firmly in hiatus mode since May or so. I’ve purposefully kept silent on the topic as other things have held my attention, but I expect some progress with the situation during December, as well. I’ll keep you posted!

So lots of fun stuff going on – and the race is on to check as many as I can off my list.