My New Book

I’m so excited to show you a sneak peak of my first illustrated book!
The book is a bedtime story full of sleepy, cuddly creatures of all kinds.

Look for it in early spring of 2011!

www.robertabaird.com

Join Us for the Twelve Days of Christmas

The Doodle Diner is serving up a double dose of doodle goodness and some caroling on the side!

Starting on December 13, 2010 the  Doodle Diner will be presenting their own version of the Twelve days of Christmas. Check back each day for a new illustration of an old classic!

Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2010

Take a peek at this. The New York Times Book Review posted this article announcing the 10 best illustrated children’s book of 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/gift-guide/holiday-2010/best-illustrated-childrens-books-2010/list.html

The judges included Robert Sabuda, Elizabeth Bird, and David Barringer. What an interesting and variety collection of books.

T.

Taking a nap at the Diner!

Here’s a sneak peek from my first book coming out in the spring of 2011. Shhh….. don’t wake them

Lisa at the Doodle Diner

Woohoo!! Lisa Graves is in da house!! We are so glad to have her as one of our new doodlers!

A little about Lisa:

Q:If you could only use one colour to draw or paint with forever and ever, which colour would you use
A. Stone.

Your studio is…
Fantastic and clean- has great natural light, exposed beams, its own staircase, 150-year-old wide board pine floors, etc. But I can NEVER use it, so for now I work out of my dining room so that I can work and watch the kids at the same time. Someday, I will be allowed to retreat to my Laura Ingalls-esque Studio Room and focus on my work, but for now- I have to doodle around the greasy fingerprints my children keep leaving on my pad of vellum.

Q. What forms of marketing your work do you employ?
A. I’m on guru- which can be good and bad. Good because I’ve found some great long term clients on there- but bad because I can’t help but get offended when someone posts a job to have a 42 page picture book illustrated for less than $250. (wth?)
I also do a postcard mailing 2 to 3 times/year. I have a blog, and a website.

Q. Do you have an agent…if not would you like to work with one?
A. I do not have an agent. I wouldn’t mind working with one, I’d like to get into licensing.

Q. What is the first thing you remember drawing?
A. profiles- my dad always doodled the same profile of a man with a big square nose, so I had to draw a girl’s profile with a soft round nose. To this day, girls profiles are what I draw whenever there’s a pen and a scrap of paper.

Lisa Graves
www.lisagravesdesign.net
http://lisagravesdesign.blogspot.com

www.olivitgroup.net

Mike R. Baker… I’ll be back

Sometimes you hit a bump in the road. If you’re lucky, it’s just a bump and will soon pass. That’s what I’m expecting. I have cancer. I have had 2 major operations already. I’m about to have another – a big one. But it could very well cure my cancer – or at the very least, buy me a decade or three. I’m otherwise healthy and strong and living life full-tilt, and the doctors are all positive. I’m confident that I’ll be back at the drawing board and in great health very soon!

So, how has all this work on my health affected my life in art? Well, I’ve drawn only with my daughter for a few months, posting nothing. I look at art and illustration online and been to a few shows. At first, I felt guilty I wasn’t posting art. But, well, when you face the possibilty of death, all you think about is your family and getting better. And that’s okay. Health and love are top priorities… art will have to come third.

Oh, the picture? I just like it. Funny, you do a Google image search for Dorothy and Alice and it comes up first (the theater group that used my image asked permission).

Anyway… here’s a few links of interest for all you artists and art-appreciators.

Pete Emslie on the joy of doodling.

If you’re interested in using Flash to create comics, Gabe of Big Pants Mouse has a great process tutorial.

Mad Magazine cartoonist and caricature artist, Tom Richmond, has a great blog. Check out his tutorials!

“Rad” is a storyboard artist at Dreamworks and he has a great “how-to” blog.

Check out josefskrhola’s photostream on Flickr for some absolutely gorgeous Czech illustrations!

Okay, sorry about the rambling post. Just wanted to catch up a bit. Have a great everything, my friends!

One down!

Realizing that it’s no longer goal month, I still wanted to kick off February by bragging that I hunkered down and managed to cross one off my list. I finally got my website (mostly) done!

Of course, I still need to fix a few bugs, the portfolio is still in the process of being agonized over overhauled and I need to get myself a domain name, (this is the temp URL), but all in all, I’m pretty thrilled I got this far.

One down and a gazillion to go!

Take a peek, if you’d like.

Wintery Winners

Last month the Doodle Diner’s David “Pickledog” Sones had a Wintery Print Giveaway. The good news is, everyone was a winner! Everyone who commented will be receiving a print… and you know who you are!

Congratulations to you all and thank you again David for your sweet, generous gift!

Your Hosts for January

Thanks for stopping by the Doodle Diner folks. Come on in, take a load off and let this month’s hostesses, Kathleen Rietz and Linda Silvestri rustle you up something tasty.

Speaking of tasty, in December, we had our very first print giveaway, generously provided by doodler extraordinaire, David “Pickldog” Sones. Thank you so much David and thank you everyone who participated.

This month, in an effort to inspire and be inspired, we’ll be kicking off the first week of 2010 with “goal” as our theme. What are some of our resolutions, goals and aspirations? In other words, what special ingredients will the denizens of the Doodle Diner be concocting to create a recipe for success this year?

Stick around and find out. It’s on the house.

Post-holiday Doldrumoids

Post-holiday Doldrumoid (as seen through a microscope.)

We’ve always known of their existence, but for the first time ever, caught in mid listless, despondency, is what experts commonly refer to as the Post-holiday Doldrumoid…in the flesh……or rather, in the doodle.

No matter. It’s official. We have a Doldrumoid pandemic on our hands. They are here and we have got to deal with them.

Some effective methods for coping with these ubiquitous yet unwelcome creatures are as follows:

1. Ignore them. Doldrumoids have been known to