Friendship Day

Simply the best part of summertime for these two.  A favorite kind of day.

Happy Friendship Day on July 30th!!

~ Priscilla

Joy- beginning sketches

I can already see a lot of what I'd want to change with these beginning sketches of this spread. That's the power of sketching, right? At this stage you experiment, make changes and just keep drawing! Something better always comes up or you at least see how some of your first sketches may be the right direction. In any case, draw, draw, DRAW!

Have a great weekend, all!
-Joy

Today is National Cousins Day!

I have cousins!
Dozens of cousins!
(Wish I'd thought of that title and book idea before the awesome Shutta Crum did, but she did such a fantastic job with it that I can't really complain.)

I have lots of cousins partly because of these two people:

That's my grandma and grandpa. I will probably write books about them eventually. For now, this is what they looked like in their early marriage, and re-figured as paper dolls. This is an early pencil sketch. Lots of things got smoothed out before the art was shared last December.

Below is something I worked on last week -- again, this is a rough pencil sketch that subsequently got cleaned up a lot and re-inked. This is a concept for my family reunion t-shirt. When I was a kid we formed a cousins band, and that's what this shirt art represents. We'll see how well it goes over at the reunion next month (where many of us will have musical instruments with us).

I love my cousins because my grandparents brought us together so often for family parties that we became more like siblings. Dozens and dozens of siblings.

Many of them and their kids have become characters in my Ellie McDoodle books.

Go draw a cousin -- real or imaginary -- today!

-- Ruth McNally Barshaw

Celebrate Hammock Day This Week!

Fifi can't help herself.  After all, she's a cat.  Of course she loves herself most of all!  Ralphie just thinks he's in her selfie.

Happy Hammock Day to you all tomorrow ~ Tuesday, July 22nd!!

~ Priscilla

National Ice Cream Month

This is the only thing I don't like about going out for an ice cream. Too many choices! 

It's National Rabbit Week!

Bunnies on our back lawn. One of these vignettes might be an exaggeration...

- Ruth McNally Barshaw

Gummi Worms?

I wonder what birds really think?

National Gummi Worm Day

Enjoy National Gummi Worm Day! Dirt cake with Gummi worms is my favorite way to enjoy those sour, sugary, squishy treats. 

Cow Appreciation Day Is Near

Meet Larry, Kenny, and Joe.

They're done with farm living.  They're digging the beach now.
They caught a wave or two, made friends with the locals, and have no intention of going back to their old life.
Oh, and they're not cows anymore.
They're surf dudes.

Kind of a shame because if they were cows, we'd be appreciating them this week (July 15th)

~ Priscilla

It's Teddy Bear Picnic Day!

Enjoy your picnic! 

- Ruth McNally Barshaw

Hope Springs Eternal

I love illustrating the dreams of kids....(and some adults)

Teddy Bear Picnic Day is coming this week!

First selfie of the day, at the Teddy Bear Picnic.  

~ Priscilla 
p.s.  TBP Day is July 10th.  =)

Happy National Ice Cream Month!

Happy Saturday and I hope you all are having a great holiday weekend! Summer holidays are some of the most fun as most of them include parades and/or fireworks, and when my husband and I got hitched, we picked July 3rd to take advantage of all that (in Michigan, where we're from, the cherry festival is also at this time)! But the best food this time of year is ice cream. There's something for everyone (and it is food, I've been known to eat it as a meal)! And here's my sketch for this week, I didn't quite finish the other kids, but I don't think they mind ; ) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Happy 4th!

Fireflies find the end of the day most enlightening. Wishing you all a safe and happy fourth of July!

Happy 'I Forgot' Day and Happy Fourth!

Yesterday was I Forgot Day.
Here's the quick sketch for a Ben-Ben style sheet I developed two weeks ago for the Kids Read Comics con in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Why do illustrators and cartoonists use style sheets for their characters? So they don't forget important details when drawing their character, and so the characters are consistent throughout a book.

I meant to bring this for the kids at my drawing session at the comic con, to maybe give them some ideas for their own characters. But, ahem, I forgot. Instead I just had a stack on my table in Artist Alley. I didn't bring many back home with me, so apparently lots of kids remembered to pick one up.

Tomorrow is the fourth of July, a major holiday here in the US. My family will spend it with a big group at my friend's birthday party (born the same day as our country -- cool. Different year, though.) and then we'll all go see the fireworks at the park. Two family members who will NOT enjoy the festivities:

This is Clarence and Hammy, my two dogs. Before we go to the party I'll stash their beds in a quiet, dark corner of my studio and I'll close the window and put on the radio so they barely hear the fireworks and firecrackers going off in the street. They really, really dislike fireworks. They love music, though.

This character loves both fireworks and music. I just discovered her last week. 

She's in one of the books I've been working on. 

I think she's unforgettable.

-- Ruth McNally Barshaw

Here Comes the Fourth!

I don't know a kid who doesn't like the lightning-in-your-hand, risk-of-being-burned, fun of a sparkler.