Grumpy Gus - The Book!

Grumpy Gus is online! Go here to download a low-res pdf of the book. I've got a few different ideas for other ways to present it but this is the easiest way to get it out there for now. Hope you like it!

Dinosaur Designs for Animated Short

In my downtime at work (thanks recession!) I've been working on an animated short about a feathered dinosaur chasing a mosquito. Here are some early designs I did forever ago - they've slightly changed since but thought I'd share. Hope to have the whole thing done soon and then, depending what they say at the office, will post it here.

Grumpy Gus for Illustration Friday - "Immovable"

Thought this suited this week's theme on Illustration Friday. Gus is definitely an "immovable" force when he wants to be!

Grumpy Gus - The Cover

Here's the cover, with special help from Gus himself on the background watercolors. Please let me know what you think, especially you graphic designers out there. I'll be saying this from now until forever, but thanks to Emily for being such a great art director - she's the best pair of fresh eyes I could hope for. I'll let you know soon when I get the whole book together - stay tuned!

Grumpy Gus - Page 16 THE END!

Finally! I still have quite a bit of editing left to do, but here's the last page of the book. I'll be posting up the cover soon as well. I've got some ideas for how to compile this and get it on the web - I'd love to hear any of your thoughts on the topic, as well as the usual technical and artistic criticism (that is invaluable to me - you guys are my art directors). Gus is a never-ending font of inspiration for this (both the grumpy pages and the sweet pages!) that I could do this forever - thanks bud!

Grumpy Gus - Page 14 & 15

One more page left, hopefully that will follow soon and I can focus on putting the final "book" together (however that ends up happening). Just love this kid so much, even if he is fond of kicking my shins lately.

Grumpy Gus - Page 12 & 13

It's happy time! We're in the home stretch now, two more postings to finish the pages, then the cover, and then the all-important revisions. Please keep the comments coming, I'm starting to try to gather and organize them to refer to when I go back in. I'm also starting to think about how best to present this when it's all done...

Sleepy Gus Sketch

Here's a little break from "Grumpy Gus" with a sketch done while the real Gus fell asleep on the floor one afternoon. Hope to be back with pages 12/13 by Monday.

Grumpy Gus - Page 10 & 11

Look, Gus is smiling - it does happen! More smiles to come, promise. Little inside info: the couch texture is actually a closeup photo of our couch. I usually don't like to be that on the nose, but I thought it was funny. I'm using a new font based on a friend's recommendation - look okay?

Grumpy Gus Page 8-9 Halfway!

This is a little more than halfway, and for those that don't like seeing Gus so upset all the time, the next page is when things start to turn around (for the better)! Gus is (over)due for a haircut again and working on this page has helped me put it off even longer.

Grumpy Gus - Page 6 & 7

Almost halfway there (it's 16 pages long)! Here's pages 6 & 7:Here's a few early stages of the process, 1) pencil sketch (decided to add the chickens later) and 2) raw textures:

Grumpy Gus - Page 1 Revision

Just so you know, I'm serious about taking criticism! Here's some revisions I made based on comments from my friend Elli. Changed the parent's shirt colors, colors of the door and room behind the door. Also added an actual Gus drawing "taped" to the door - would like to incorporate Gus artwork throughout. Let me know what you think!

Grumpy Gus - Page 4 & 5

Most of these pages were originally drawn last summer/early fall, which is why you'll see our dog that's no longer with us in a few pages. Unfortunately, potty training is still very much with us!

Grumpy Gus - Page 2 & 3

Here's the first splash page, most the rest of the book will be like this (the splashes and Gus's attitude!).

Grumpy Gus Page1 Drawing

Here's a look into the process, this is the original pencil drawing of page 1 before crazy straw textures got involved. If anybody's interested, I'll try to show more stages of some of these. Should be posting up page 2 & 3 (splash page!) on Monday.

ChrisP joins the fray!

I'm in! This will be a place to share my latest artistic projects and link to other artists that inspire me. My initial reason for starting this blog is as a place to put forth a children's book I'm working on, mostly to teach myself about the process. The book is based on our experiences raising a grumpy toddler named Gus (tentatively titled "Grumpy Gus"). I'm hoping for this to be an open critique forum so my wife, Emily, doesn't always have to be my go-to critic (she has particularly great color instincts!), so please chime in. Also, this will keep me accountable - I will endeavor to post a page or 2 every week. Here's a look at the "in-progress" first page!