The Princess and the Frog

I've loved the story of the princess and the frog ever since I saw Robin Williams play the part of the frog prince on "Fairy Tale Theater". I started going crazy with coloring the girls' hair on these...

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Little Red Riding Hood

Little Red Riding Hood is an example of a story that came out totally different than I had originally intended it to. One of the cool things about doing these illustrations, and coming up with story concepts is that you really get to delve into the core of each character and see the possibilities of their motivation and personality.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Jack and the Beanstalk

The story of Jack and the Beanstalk is classic. I loved the idea of using oversized masks and arms to portrait a giant character. This is actually the second one of the set that I completed, and I feel like I was really getting up to speed with it.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

The Fox and The Crow

The Fox and the crow has always been one of my favorite of the Aesop's fables. I thought it'd be cool to design some paper puppets for this one. I love how the fox came out.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - The Forest Sprites

The Forest Sprites are something that I created based on a discussion on what fairies are by JRR Tolkein. He felt like fairys were more like nature spirits than little people as we see in Disney movies. So I designed a handful of them based on plant forms.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - The Emperor's New Clothes

Heart Print Boxer Shorts are hilarious.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - Brave Little Tailor

The Brave Little Tailor is a classic story of the small and meek overcoming adversity with guile and dexterity.

The subversive nature of Fairy Tales is something that I've always been drawn to. What better way to highlight the good and evil in human nature than a story for children? In 2013, I decided to do something a little more ambitious...perhaps too ambitious. While I'd still be making a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from fairy tales, and calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. I also approached several friends who are writers to retell each of those stories, so that I could collect them in a book with concept drawings, title designs, and more traditional fairy tale illustrations included as well.

Life With Girls - Where The Wild Things Are

While the movie isn't something I'm going to watch with my kids anytime soon, it's a near perfect adaptation of Sendak's manic and marvelously subversive book, Where The Wild Things Are.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Tron

Even in a world where computer generated movies are commonplace, Tron holds up well. This is probably thanks at least in part to the wonderful designs of Syd Mead. At any rate, if I'm watching TV, and Tron is on...I'm watching it.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Star Wars

Star Wars gave me a life long love of fantasy. It introduced a generation to a universal model of the heroic journey. Plus, how cool are space ships and light sabers?

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Spiderman

I still think of Spiderman 2 as the perfect super hero movie, and I still tear up when Aunt May tell's Peter that people need heroes. That they need someone to show them to just hold on a little bit longer.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Sesame Street

I've always loved puppetry, and when I was in high school and college I wanted nothing more than to be a muppeteer and work in the Henson Creature Shop. I joke now that I settled for second best when I became an illustrator instead.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - My Neighbor Totoro

We love My Neighbor Totoro. When the girls were very young, this movie captured their attention and imagination in a way that was just amazing. One of the things that we especially loved about it was that it was just about a family going through a rough time. The loved each other and were good role models for the girls. Watching the Miazaki movies in comparison with modern American shows, I'm coming to the conclusion that needing to have a desperate struggle between good and evil is a conceit of Hollywood.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Megaman

Megaman was another favorite growing up. A big difference that I've found between modern games and the games of my youth is that now they reward you for recklessness. When I was a kid, recklessness just earned you the right to try again. Rewards were for precision.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Legend of Zelda

Every Nintendo I've ever owned, has been because of the Legend of Zelda. From the opening line "It's dangerous to go alone, take this." all the way through to defeating Gannon and saving Zelda and Hyrule, I've always been totally hooked.

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Ghostbusters

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Firefly Serenity

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - The Empire Strikes Back

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Life With Girls - Akira

In 2012, I created a calendar featuring the characters from Life With Girls dressed as characters from movies that I loved and still love. Calling it my "poor man's portfolio, it was a way that I could offer 12 high quality illustrations for a very reasonable price. The concept behind this personal project was that the kids would have super high quality, movie authentic costumes, and the parents would have the kind of crummy "mom and dad made these" costumes. Each scene had to make sense in a setting that we could reasonably be expected to set this up if we'd done it for real. It was a lot of fun researching the real costumes, as well as figuring out a way to make the parent's knock offs and settings. 

Daily Life 025: Ice Skating

April 12, 2011 - Daily Life 025: Ice Skating

The other day, we watched the movie "Ice Princess" starring Joan Cusack and Michelle Trachtenberg. The movie is about a physics student who begins a project based on ice skating for a scholarship competition, and as she learns more about skating by applying what she learns, finds that she really loves skating.

About half-way through the movie as I'm making dinner in the kitchen, I check on the girls and Abby is spinning in the living room. She say's "Look daddy! I'm ice 'kating!" Ha-ha-ha! So I help her with some more spins, and then we pretend to do some other of the other tricks (is that the right word?) from the skating portions of the movie. Now, any time she's posing with one food behind her, she tells me to "look at her ice 'kating moves."

I started keeping track of my life with the girls in 2009, in a series of illustrated status updates called "Daily Life"...As I finish up collecting some of these stories for print books, and catch up on some freelance work, I thought it would be a good time to post some of these older stories, so that everything is collected here on the blog. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. :)