I recently had the opportunity to do an assignment for an illustration workshop run by Random House art director, Maria Middleton, at the Houston SCBWI regional conference. The focus was on character development and the subject was to do our version of The Wizard of Oz. I chose to do a middle grade book cover … More El Mago de OZ, my twist on a classic
For most of my twenty-one years as a freelance illustrator, I have worked in traditional mediums. I am confident using everything from charcoal to oil paints and willingly explore various techniques with them. However, I have not felt confident about creating digital illustrations. I admire the art of many illustrators who work digitally and know … More Going digital!
I was recently notified that Wiener Wolf was awarded the Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award! That means that all of the kinder to third graders in the state voted for it as their favorite book of the year. Hooray!!! I will be traveling to Little Rock in November to receive the award at the annual … More Wiener Wolf Goes To Arkansas
I recently created these four illustrations for Faces magazine. They are all Aesop’s Fables with a modern twist in the imagery. This first one is City Mouse and Country Mouse. I am continuing with my experimentation with watercolors and colored pencils and am pretty happy with the results for this piece. Up till this illustration, … More Watercolors and color pencils
The following illustrations were done for a manuscript called Winny the Princess Playing Pony that I have written and created a dummy book for . I’ve been experimenting with different styles and media trying to create art that fits the story. It needs to be something young and playful. The above art is done with … More A new style with mixed results
This past Saturday, Tom McDermott and I had a book release party for Otis Steele and the Taileebone: A Southern Tall Tale. Tom is a traveling storyteller and has been telling this tall tale for many years. Finally, he put it down on paper and got Pelican Publishing Company to publish it. He asked if … More Otis Steele and the Taileebone book launch
One of my favorite types of illustration jobs is book covers. I’ve done several over the years and found them to be great gigs in several ways. At four to six weeks, the deadlines aren’t as frantic as the two to three day newspaper deadline, or as plodding as the children’s book six to nine … More I Got It Covered
This is the grand launch of my NEW and IMPROVED blog/portfolio site, JEFF CROSBY/ILLUSTRATOR AUTHOR! It was formerly a neglected blog-only site, but I have now added my portfolio of illustrations to it, right at the top of the page. The portfolios feature my new work as well as some older favorites. So, since it’s … More 3,2,1…Relaunch!
Jeff Crosby 