SACKS10

CandyCORNKilla

2009-10-20T23:55:00.001-07:00

CandyCORNKilla, originally uploaded by saxtonmoore.

This is a new creep character in the spirit of Halloween. If you see him while trick or treating, RUN!

HALLOWEEEN TEES ARE AVAILABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-04T03:44:00.000-07:00

Just in time for the Halloween season. Get your kids into the Halloween spirit by ordering them a spooky T-shirt. These fun custom designs are sure to bring smiles and laughter to kids everywhere. Click on the image and get yours now!!!

Comes in guys/ girls/ and kids sizes. Multiple color shirts available.

Comes in Kids sizes only. (Black or Orange)

Dropped off signed copies.

2009-09-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

I dropped off signed copies of my new Halloween book @ the local indy toy store WORLD OF MIRTH. If you live in Richmond VA and you swing buy to buy the book, you get a signed print to boot.

BirdsOfAFeather_T-Shirt

2009-09-21T16:22:00.001-07:00

BirdsOfAFeather_T-Shirt, originally uploaded by saxtonmoore.

Here's a new design I did for my new line of t-shirts. This one's for the birds, I mean girls. My daughters wanted me to do a cute girls t-shirt so I came up with this composition. Leave a comment and lemme know what you think.

13 Rooms of Halloween book

2009-08-27T13:58:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't been posting much as of late. Moved once again to a new city and swamped with freelance. In the meantime here's a new Halloween book I've illustrated for Penguin Publishing. I've seen it available online to order, so get your spooky copy now before Halloween gets here. Hopefully when I get a case of books I will be able to sell a few on the blog with signed limited edition prints as gift. keep checking back for updates. I will try to post new news at least once a week now. (cross your fingers)

Here's a look at an interior page of the book.

This is a rough sketch layout of the above image.

Order on Amazon
on Barnes and Noble
directly from Penguin Publishing
or here at Borders books

SPREAD 12 (Step)

2009-06-17T21:03:00.001-07:00

As I posted before, above is my layout sketch for spread #12 of my book. I roughed it out in photoshop on my computer, adding shadows here and there. I used the shadows to frame up the main focus which is the unsuspecting dog walking by. The buildings in the background also frame up the text and help bring focus to the yo-yo that's knocking over the paint.

Here I sketched out various poodles in my sketchbook. I knew there would be a poodle on this page, but had no clue what it would look like. I started by using a light blue Tombow brush and drew vague poodle like shapes across the book. I then thought about the attitude of the dog and took a black pen to begin sketching different kind of stuck up poodles around the blue blobs of color. I ultimately chose the dog in the middle.

Next I needed to find a color palette. For this, I chose a scene from an old Tom & Jerry cartoon (Jerry Go Round-1966) with beautifully colored backgrounds by Philip Deguard. I loved that these colors were a little washed out and really complimented each other. I grabbed a still from the episode and began picking out similar colors for my palette.

The first step in coloring my page is blocking in simple shapes with color. This way I can see if these colors I chose are working well together on my image.

Now I start adding the small details to the background and Character.

Then I add in the remaining elements and rough out my angry poodle to the right of the page to get a clearer idea of what that looks like.

I finish up the last details on my Blue painted poodle and give it all one last look (which for me is staring at it for what ends up being 30 minutes to an hour) When I snap out of it, I'm done. One down 3 more pages to go.

SUSHI PACK COLORING BOOKS

2009-06-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

Look what came in the mail today. The Sushi Pack coloring book from Golden books I illustrated! My kids and I were so excited when we opened the box. The book has 100 pages including games and activities. We got our books, now go out and get yours. You can also order them HERE ON AMAZON. Here's the cover below. The actual book has a reflective foil cover (fancy).

Time to grab your Crayons and your pencils!

Let the good times begin. It takes focus and a steady hand to crank out a masterpiece such as this.

Coloring is no mere child's play.

It takes a true master to scribble in (or outside) the lines.

What are you waiting for? Go and unleash your pint size Picasso.

Poodle sketches

2009-06-12T11:48:00.001-07:00

Here are some various poodle sketches from my sketchbook. I had to design a poodle for a page of my children's book. I really like the one that's in the center. I think I'll roll with him.

Valentine's Book pre-order

2009-06-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

I noticed on Amazon today that they've posted my Valentine's book I illustrated available for pre-order. I know it's a long way from now (and I will plug it again)but I wanted to share the cover with you. I've also added it to my publishing carousel above along with my other published works. Feel free to click HERE to purchase it in advance or just click the image in the carousel. The book has a decoder game inside to help kids get the valentines to the right person. Lots of fun.

Mountain top

2009-06-08T05:15:00.001-07:00

This weeks sketch from life.

Below is a rough layout for spread #12 to my children's book.

Sketch on the Square

2009-05-31T05:49:00.000-07:00

Scattered,Covered,Smothered,Chunked

2009-05-14T10:11:00.000-07:00

Did some sketching at the Waffle House this morning. For some reason I'm drawn to the design of the place and the colorful characters who frequent and work there. The lady was painted on a small canvas earlier with acrylic and the booth was done in photoshop. The signage was taken as I left the place this morning. Waffles are GREAT!

Sample page to my kids book

2009-05-13T09:00:00.001-07:00

I just finished this 2 page spread to my kids book this morning and thought I'd share it here. It takes a lot of dedication to do your own thing. I catch myself wanting to go back over and redo certain things, but I force myself to press on and knock out these pages. It's all about getting the story out, right? (At least that's what I keep telling myself) Well, back to work on the next page. I'm hoping to have all of my illustrations for this thing done by the end of the month.

THROWBACK THURSDAY "Rise from the DEAD"

2009-05-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Throwback Thursdays rises from the dead. My inspiration below...

I spent yesterday working on reviving throwback Thursdays with this piece. I almost forgot how much fun it was to draw in this loose silly carefree style. When I was a kid I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons and being equally entertained by the animated cereal commercials during the breaks. These characters stood out the most to me. Frankenberry cereal and watching funny cartoons go hand in hand. If you like monster cereal be sure to swing by the MONSTER CEREAL BLOG There's a lot of interesting memorabilia there. I'm gonna try kicking this thing back up again with hopes of launching a throwback thursdays book eventually. Keep checking back weekly and if you have any Throwback suggestions, leave them in the comments section below.

CAVS sketches

2009-05-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

I did these sketches of the Cavaliers a few weeks back in my sketchbook as I watched them in the playoffs. Next stop Atlanta vs. Cavs. My 2 favorite NBA teams face off tomorrow night. Keep your head up HAWKS. I may do some more basketball sketches while I watch the game.

INCREDIBLE

2009-05-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

I did this piece of Wes Montgomery "The INCREDIBLE Jazz guitarist" as I took a quick break from my children's book I'm working on. I've been listening to his "A day in the life" album for inspiration. Check him out.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T05:44:00.001-07:00

This is one of my many properties for children's books. This story teaches young ones how to show the earth some love by planting and recycling.
Go out and plant something today or save energy.
Here's a link to some cool Earth day videos on youtube!

Kid Cudi sketch

2009-04-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

I've been listening to Kid Cudi tracks online to get the creative juices flowing.
Just did this sketch to see if I could capture his likeness.

BLOCK 1/ New York Perspective

2009-04-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

I did this BLOCK piece to commemorate my recent trip to NY. I must say that the trip was well worth while. I meet a lot of great genuine people who welcomed me as well as my art with open arms and enthusiasm. I was able to meet a lot of people whom I've only known through phone conversations that turned out to be just as cool in person. I can only hope that our relationships can grow even greater throughout our careers and lead us to more amazing opportunities to collaborate. I was also able to reunite with close friends and colleagues that continue to do well despite our economic hardships, may your talents continue to shine through with success.

Reviving an old concept

2009-03-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

This is an old project I'm reviving and developing with a couple of friends. I can't really spill too much about it, but I wanted to share some images.Maybe I'll post more next month. I've got tons of illustrations for this concept.
For some reason I had to make her dog a little black terrier. I personally think he's cute. The name Algebra kind of fits him too.

Noggin Celebrates Barack Obama

2009-03-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

Last but not least, here is the Barack Obama spot I did for Noggin/Nickelodeon. I carried over the style I used for the African American inventors clips. If you didn't know enough about President Barack Obama, now you can learn about some of his favorite things.

If the voice sounds familiar, it's because it's the voice of Tyrone from the Backyardigans.
Here are some of my favorite stills from the movie.

This Shepard Fairey poster was my color inspiration for the spot.

NICK JR/ NOGGIN CELEBRATE AFRICAN AMERICAN INVENTORS 3

2009-03-06T05:03:00.000-08:00

Here are the other 3 spots I did with the Nick Jr/Noggin team. These were really fun to work on as well as informative. My hats off to the writers and producers over there for allowing me the great opportunity to bring these short clips to life. My personal favorite is George Crum, inventor of the potato chip. According to one version, on August 24, 1853, a customer complained that Crum's french fries were "too thick." The angered cook was frustrated by this remark, so he decided to give the maximal opposite of what the client was complaining about: he sliced potatoes paper-thin, over fried them to a crisp and seasoned them with an excess of salt. When the crisps were prepared, he gave them to the customer, who loved them. The chips became popular, and became known as Saratoga Chips. Crum was able to open his own restaurant with the profits he made selling his new crisps.

NICK JR/ NOGGIN CELEBRATE AFRICAN AMERICAN INVENTORS 2

2009-03-01T13:31:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd add a couple of my favorite stills for these 3 movies. Also check out the George Washington Carver boards below.

Here is my reference for George Washington Carver's peanut combine.

I just got the OK from Nickelodeon to post these spots I animated. Enjoy and feel free to leave some feedback in the comments section.

These are the initial boards I did for the GWC piece.

NICK JR/ NOGGIN CELEBRATE AFRICAN AMERICAN INVENTORS

2009-02-22T06:18:00.001-08:00

All this month you can catch a few black history month spots I did on Noggin and Nick Jr. I had the great pleasure of creating commercial spots showcasing African American inventors. When I get the green light from the network, I will post Hi res versions of the spots on my blog. In the meantime, you can get a peek of them HERE on the Nick jr website. Feel free to post comments below. I would love to get some feedback.

Here is my original character design lineup of all of these wonderful inventors.
From (L to R) Lonnie Johnson (Inventor of the Super Soaker), George Washington Carver (Inventor of Peanut Butter), Garrett Morgan (Inventor of the traffic signal), Alfred Cralle (Inventor of the Ice cream scooper), George Crum (Inventor of the potato chip), Jack Johnson (Inventor of the wrench)

This project gave me the great opportunity to experiment with a style I've been doing for some time. These are a few examples above. It's a real simple style that is a mix of my own with a little Abstract and a few other inspirations.

BTW, You can also see an additional spot I did for the network Celebrating Barack Obama and some of his favorite things.
Be sure to leave comments below.

JOHNNY 2X4 DOWN BY LAW

2009-02-16T10:18:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon an old animation clip in my files of Johnny 2x4 that I animated some time ago. It actually loops and I added a little music to it. Enjoy!