The Seven Ravens

When I was looking for story ideas for this project one of my friends Suggested the Seven Swans. As I worked on researching the story, I came across the Seven Ravens variation, which I thought was much more compelling than the swan version. It's a fantastic tale of compassion, determination, and sacrifice and my friend Leighton Connor did a fantastic job retelling 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.

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 - 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 - 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.